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COME INTO THE GARDEN 



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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNB 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd, 

TORONTO 




Inviting and warning against intrusion at one and the 
same time the arched gateway finds its proper place 
wherever there is a definite change in garden motif — and 
cannot be consistently introduced elsewhere in a design 



Come Into the Garden 



BY 
GRACE TABOR 

author of 

"old fashioned gardens," "the garden primer," 

"wonderdays and wonderways throttgh flowerland,'' 

"the LANDSCAPE GARDENING BOOK," ETC. 



Illustrated 
With Phctographa 



N»m fork 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1921 

All rights reaened 






COPYBIQHT. 1921, 

By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Set up and eleotrotyped. Published May, 1921 



JUL 13? 



Printed in the United States of America 



iClA6i4985 



'Y> 



FOREWORD 

It is appropriate to explain that in a book of 
this character there may be an appearance of 
inconsistency to the layman in the spelling of 
plant names. The nomenclature of Bailey's 
Encyclo'poedia of Horticulture has been followed, 
however, with the exception of the capitaliza- 
tion of the names when they appear apart from 
their botanical components. Personally, the 
author believes a page presents a more agree- 
able appearance to the eye when the names of 
such plants as may be referred to thereon are 
not treated as proper names; and that it may 
be read with greater facility and a less disturbed 
sense of values as a consequence. For those 
desiring to pursue further reading or study along 
the lines of any particular chapter, a bibliog- 
raphy of standard works dealing with each chap- 
ter subject will be found at the back of the book, 
just before the Index. 



CONTENTS 



Part I 
CONCERNED WITH MAN'S CONTRIBUTION 



Foreword 

I. The Garden's Place in Civilization 

II. Position and Plan of the House . 

III. Designing a Garden 

rV. Grades, Levels and Contours . . 

V. Boundaries and Boundary Treatment 

VI. Walks, Paths and Garden Entrances 

VII. Garden Accessories and Ornaments 

VIII. The Place That Is Already Started . 

IX. Planting anO Maintenance . . . . 



PAGB 

" ix 

3 

10 

27 

45 

60 

76 

89 

104 

118 



Part II 
CONCERNED WITH NATURE'S CONTRIBUTION 

X. Trees and Their Purpose 145 

XI. The Use and Abuse of Evergreens .... 156 

XII. Shrubbery and Shrubs . . . 164 

XIII. Flowers of All Climes and Seasons . . . .181 

XIV. Vines, Decorative and Useful 201 

XV. Roses and Their Special Culture 212 

XVI. Wat^ Features and Water Flowers . . . 232 

XVII. Rock Gardens and Their Plants ^ 253 

XVIII. Wild Gardens and Wild Flowers ..... 267 

XIX. Fruits for the Small Garden 282 

XX. The Vegetable Garden ' - 295 

Bibliography 313 

Index 317 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Arched Gateway . Frontispiece 

An ArbOred Alcove Facing p. 32 

A Boundary Wall of Simple Design , . " 60 

Informal Garden " 92 

Climbing Roses on House " 116 

The Tree — ^a Decorative Garden Feature " 150 
Arborvit^ Enclosing a Water-flower 

Garden " 158 

Dwarf Apple Tree as a Shrubbery 

Ornament " 170 

Mixed Border with a Wall Background " 186 
Grape Vine and Arbor Employed for 

Decorative Purposes " 210 

Climbing Roses Over Archway .... " 222 

Pool in Garden " 232 

A Rock Garden " 256 

Garden Flowers Planted in Naturalistic 

Fashion " 272 

Fruit Tree Trained Against Wall . . " 286 

Decorative Value of Cabbage .... " 296 



Come Into the Garden 



• PART I 

Concerned with Man's Contribution 

1—2 



COME INTO THE GARDEN 



"There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners." 

— Hamlet. 

CHAPTER I 

The Garden's Place in Civilization 

RECOGNIZING the natural — and proper — ten- 
dency of those who practice any art to re- 
gard that art as pecuHarly important, and as a 
consequence to exalt its service to the human 
race until it alone seems responsible for human 
progress, I am nevertheless obliged to assert 
that here is the one art without which the afore- 
said race could never have emerged at all from 
primitive conditions! Moreover, it is also true 
that without it — I am speaking to the broadest 
concept of it — mankind would speedily lose 
everything held dear, and would slip back into 
a condition very much more difficult and more 
dangerous to survival, as well as very much less 
worthy, than that occupied prior to the more or 
less well-known dawn of civilization. 

3 



4 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

For what, after all, was that dawn? Where 
did it break? And what were the first faint 
streaks in the sky? That man's first differ- 
entiation from the animal came with the 
fashioning of tools is sufficiently apparent not 
to be open to argument, of course; but neither 
this nor his subsequent rude architecture, nor 
even the discovery and use of fire can be 
said to have carried him very far forward on 
the long road he has traveled, since savages 
to-day employ as much. No, it was none of 
these. 

It was with the first deliberate planting of a 
seed and cultivation of a plant that the darkness 
of the racial night began really to lift. And it is 
to the degree of his loyalty to this first great 
science-art that man is a success or failure in the 
world to-day! 

Perhaps this seems the usual exaggeration of 
the devotee; but need I do more than point out 
the complete dependence of all creation upon a 
reliable and regular food supply, to prove my 
case? We have had too recent example of world 
food shortage to forget altogether how real a 
menace to every human being individually such 
shortage may become within an alarmingly 
short space of time, once production is aban- 
doned. Wherefore we have writ large before us 



PLACE IN CIVILIZATION 5 

so that he who runs may read, the great and 
universal obhgation of stewardship, wherein 
each one of us shares, to promote and foster this 
art in all its branches. 

The strongest of all instincts presumably is 
the instinct of self-preservation — which is the 
reason that the instinct to grow things lies so 
deep in the human heart; for the latter is actu- 
ally merely an extension of the former. Some 
will say that they lack it altogether, I know; 
and I grant at once that they seem to. But of 
these — and to them — let me add that it has 
never been my experience to find anyone lack- 
ing it wholly, once they are given a chance to 
know what a garden really can be, and can do 
for them and to them as well as to the world in 
which they live and have their being. It is the 
pressure of other things that makes them im- 
patient of Nature's slow processes, or total un- 
familiarity with the work, or misconception gen- 
erally that accounts for indifference. Interest 
never resists the appeal of the miracles of every- 
day in the garden, when this has an opportunity 
to assert itself. 

The stewardship of which I have spoken de- 
mands that it be given this opportunity; and 
the active exercise of stewardship begins with 
the establishment of every home, whether it is 



6 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

large or small. This is the truth that we ought 
everyone to realize and be governed by. 

Yet it is not enough that we act upon an in- 
stinct of self-preservation alone, since this would 
induce each household to be merely food pro- 
ducers — which is neither practicable nor desir- 
able at this late day. The analogy holds, here 
as elsewhere, between gardening and architec- 
ture; since we go a great deal farther now than 
to provide ourselves just with shelter — the bare 
necessity — in our exercise of the art of building, 
so we have arrived at a time when the finer as- 
pects of the art of gardening must prevail. Our 
one great difficulty in this connection, however, 
is our tendency to disregard the early, real pur- 
pose of it and to devote ourselves to the finer 
aspects altogether; which is as if we built our 
houses without roofs because roofs are less in- 
teresting and decorative and generally appeal- 
ing than side walls and doors and fenestration. 

The suggestion made by Bacon in his essay 
on gardens has been quoted so often and univer- 
sally that I long since foreswore its literal tran- 
scription, yet it sums up so much of all that 
there is to say introductory to the subject that 
it is almost impossible to do without it ! He was 
so wholly right, and it is so true that, of the 
twin arts of building and gardening, the latter 



PLACE IN CIVILIZATION 7 

represents — and requires — the greater perfec- 
tion. But we have been building stately for long 
enough now to begin to garden finely; and we 
are moreover as a nation coming to that self- 
consciousness which inspires real effort in the 
arts, in the desire to express itself. Hence we 
are ready to produce something worthy in gar- 
dens — and when I say worthy I mean just that, 
in every sense and all senses of the word. We 
are ready not only to assume the obligations of 
our stewardship of such land as we acquire, but 
we are ready to spare no pains to embellish and 
make beautiful as well as to make productive. 
We are ready at last to justify possession of our 
bit of earth, inasmuch as we are ready to make 
the most of it in the fullest sense. 

Distinct from its aspect as a civilizing factor, 
therefore, is the garden's aspect as an evidence 
of the progress of civilization. It established it 
in the first place; and now it is the measure by 
which it may be gauged. Crude people garden 
crudely — this is as true of individuals as it is of 
races — while people of high culture and highly 
evolved discrimination and sense of harmony, 
garden finely. By their gardens indeed shall 
we know them; for a garden is surely the fruit 
of its creator's mind and will reveal the inner 
man as nothing else he can make. Which is an- 



8 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

other striking thing about them — they will not 
deceive nor give out a false impression. Hence 
if it is desired to produce a certain impression 
through the home and its gardens, it is neces- 
sary to start in the very heart of things and be- 
come what that impression signifies. In no 
other way will it be possible to convince; we 
must be, in other words, what we want our gar- 
den to make us seem. 

Happily this works both ways; for the garden 
itself is the best means of becoming genuine — 
of getting right oneself. Just why this is so does 
not always appear on the surface of things — but 
I suspect it is because everything dealt with in 
the garden is so genuine, and because it is in it- 
self such an elemental occupation. There is vir- 
tue in earth contact and there is inspiration in 
the observation of plant unfoldment, whether 
we are mystical, empirical, or rationalistic in our 
temperament — whether we believe it or not, in 
short. And what is more, it tvorks, whether we 
believe' it or not. So we have only to give it the 
chance; the rest will come. 

In its application to the individual and the in- 
dividual garden all that I have just said re- 
solves itself into one sound maxim for a starting 
point, namely : — the garden is at once the oppor- 
tunity and the achievement, the cause and the 



PLACE IN CIVILIZATION 9 

result. If this is understood nothing more need 
be said in urgence of its claims; the rest will 
come along in due season and order — helped per- 
haps a little bit by the further content of this 
volume. At least I hope so! 



**A garden ougM to lie to the best parts of the house, or 
to those of the master's commonest use, so as to be but 
like one of the rooms out of which you step into another." 
Of Gardening. — Sir Wm. Temple. 



CHAPTER II 

Position and Plan of the House 

THERE are three points under which the loca- 
tion and the layout of a dwelling should be 
considered. These are its exposure for summer 
and winter comfort; its place on the ground 
with regard to the greatest economy and con- 
servation of the same; and the distribution of 
the space thus saved and conserved for the 
greatest degree of efSciency and beauty. All 
these three are almost, if not quite, equally 
important. If there is any difference between 
them, it is indicated by the order in which 
they are named — but do not let this minimize 
the importance of the last nor magnify the im- 
portance of the first. To each should be given 
such a measure of consideration and careful 
thought that when a plan is finally adopted and 

10 



POSITION AND PLAN 11 

the work begun, it may be with the certainty 
that the very best is about to be accomplished 
under all three heads. 

Every plot of ground, however great or small 
it may be — excepting the city lot which, leaving 
no room whatsoever for choice, is of course not 
now under consideration — affords just one 
"best" place for the house which is to take 
shape upon it. And the location of this any- 
where but in or upon this best place, is a mis- 
fortune which no amount of ingenuity can ever 
really overcome. 

But the owner of the average building plot 
never suspects it of possibilities of even the 
tamest sort; consequently such a plot is never 
treated expectantly, as it were. What it has 
been, it is — and apparently is to go on being, 
time without end. It faces north, south, east, 
or west according to the direction of the street 
whereon it fronts; hence the dwelling which 
eventually occupies it also faces north, south, 
east, or west accordingly. It fronts with the 
front, has a kitchen at the back and a porch 
displayed. Thus, limited by custom and con- 
vention and the lack of a single degree of in- 
dependent, individual thought, each average 
house is practically like its neighbor and is 
located on its plot of ground in practically the 



12 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

same wasteful way; and each average door- 
yard lias the same features — or lack of them. 

Of course there are restrictions imposed 
upon the purchaser of so-called improved 
property, for his protection as well as his 
guidance, and it is right that there should be. 
But all of this, be it noted, is quite apart from 
these restrictions and regulations. Beyond the 
building line and the character and minimum 
cost of the buildings to be erected, there is 
usually little that is arbitrarily fixed in either 
the opulent or humble colony. And this little 
offers no insurmountable obstacle to doing what 
is really best in disposing both house and 
grounds — although the building line comes very 
near doing so, without doubt. The elimination 
of this fixed line, however, is not of course 
possible or even desirable perhaps under our 
present system of regulated building; but the 
system itself is wasteful, vulgarly frank and os- 
tentatious, and utterly destructive of garden 
opportunities as well as of the fine instinct of 
home reserve and privacy that is such a price- 
less human asset. 

We have not grown old enough as a nation, 
however, to shrink from personal publicity; we 
still cherish the infantile instinct to cry "hello!" 
to the passer-by, to lift up our possessions to his 



POSITION AND PLAN 13 

gaze — which will be flatteringly covetous if these 
are striking enough — and shake them trium- 
phantly before him with an exultant "see!" So 
we have the veranda-stage whereon our little 
dramas are to be played before this audience; 
and we plan all the settings around about to 
capture the admiration of the street. 

Consequently the suburbs of American cities 
are said to be the most beautiful in the world — 
to drive through. Could there be a more elo- 
quent qualification of praise than that final 
clause? I think not, when it is remembered 
that these are colonies of homes, not public 
parks. They are not for the man who drives 
through. They are for the man who stays 
there, and for his wife and his sons and his 
daughters. Yet the streets are the most attrac- 
tive part of them! 

There are few at the present time, I grant, 
who would have the courage to break away 
from what has come to be a traditional style 
or plan here, even if convinced of its advan- 
tages, both ethical and material; yet I am 
going to suggest what a colony which adopted 
the other older and better ways might gain, 
and the very real beauties which would remain 
in its streets even though they were deprived 
of their domestic panoramas. 



14 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

In the first place, every foot of his ground 
is available to the man whose house forms a 
part of his boundary walls and whose boundary 
is walled. If he buys forty by one hundred 
feet, he has forty by one hundred feet to use — 
not forty by one hundred less forty by twenty- 
five, or one quarter of the whole, which restric- 
tions bind him to turn over to the street, to put 
it as actual unvarnished truth. He has space 
for flowers, fruits, and vegetables to an unbe- 
lievable amount — unbelievable at least to those 
who have never thought about it or figured it 
out or tried it — and within his own garden 
beauty and interest and recreation and diver- 
sion, instead of in the street. 

It is a reversal that is very complete, for in- 
stead of a front porch overlooking the throng 
and the dust and invaded by both, figuratively 
in the first instance, actually in the second, this 
outdoor room will open at the rear — or side, de- 
pending upon the proper weather exposure, 
which must always be the determining factor 
— and looks over the fruits growing upon the 
wall, the green things everywhere, flowers in 
their trim borders, a tennis court, perhaps, or 
a bowling green, a pool in the sunlight where 
water lilies bloom and gold fish rest in the 
shadows, a hammock in the distance under 



POSITION AND PLAN 15 

the trees with table and chairs, and al fresco 
breakfasts on fine mornings — where grocers' 
carts and dehvery wagons cannot adventure, 
where all the privacy and lounging indolence 
of indoors is possible, out under the blue in the 
fragrant sweetness of a true garden. 

Yet in the street there is the same cool shade 
that there has always been, from trees along the 
curb; the same refreshing strips of emerald turf 
beneath them; a flicker of light and shadow in 
the vines growing on garden walls and house 
fagades; gleams of color from blossoms in win- 
dow boxes; and glimpses beyond into delight- 
ful garden retreats — glimpses that are infinitely 
more alluring than the endless bits of lawn that 
stretch monotonously back from the sidewalk 
to the inevitable clotheslines of present day 
back yards. And finally there is restful unity 
of purpose taking the place of what is to-day, at 
best, lack of harmony and uncertainty — an un- 
certainty that is inevitable when the appearance 
and general effect of each place from the ground 
up is so dependent upon the general effect of its 
neighbors, and of all the others in its block, 
standing as they do in the open and all together. 

I am inclined to think that we have departed 
so far from the sensible, reasonable arrange- 
ment practiced by older peoples — by our own 



16 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

ancestors here, indeed, in early times, as old 
villages in many parts of the country still bear 
witness — through a fundamental misconception 
of the town, village, or suburban home, its pos- 
sibilities and its limitations. We have not re- 
cognized that it is definitely a type, alone and 
by itself; as distinct as the city home; widely 
different from the country home. Right here, in- 
deed, is just where the most serious error has 
slipped in, for all the effort has been to treat the 
suburban grounds along the same lines which 
the large estate admits, to build the suburban 
house according to the same plans from which 
the house in the midst of acreage rises. 

So a kind of landscape gardening has been 
attempted, in a loose fashion, to which boundary 
fences and walls and many other rational fea- 
tures have been sacrificed in the vain hope of 
creating an illusion of the spaciousness and 
splendor which the town or suburban place can- 
not, in the very nature of things, possibly enjoy. 
For it has its very definite limitations, fixed and 
unalterable, of which it cannot be rid. Not until 
these are recognized and, being recognized, are 
turned to account in the distribution and orna- 
mentation of its grounds, will its highest pos- 
sibilities, both esthetic and practical, be realized. 

But in the colony established upon the pre- 



POSITION AND PLAN 17 

vailing system of the present, the builder must 
of course conform to colony restrictions and re- 
quirements; which means that twenty -five feet 
or thereabouts must be given up in front of the 
dwelling — more perhaps, if the building units 
are deeper and wider than fifty by one hundred 
feet. This size, however, is a fair average, and 
I have chosen it as the most typical plot for con- 
sideration throughout. All that applies to it ap- 
plies equally to the larger areas, up to and in- 
cluding the quarter-acre unit, but with proper- 
ties larger than this I have not considered it 
proper here to deal, for they are in a class apart. 

Of course a farm may be, and often is, as 
truly suburban as any tiny cottage plot, but in 
its special significance the suburban or village 
home consists of from two to four selling units 
or lots, each probably twenty-five by one hun- 
dred feet in size. It takes seventeen of such 
lots to make an acre, approximately, the exact 
size of the latter being 43,560 square feet — or, 
reduced to "real estate" measurements, a tract 
one hundred feet deep by four hundred and 
thirty-five feet and a fraction over seven inches 
long. One hundred feet by one hundred, or 
four lots, is thus not quite a quarter acre. 

There are two kinds of houses to choose be- 
tween for the typical fifty by one hundred foot 



18 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

plot, which will leave the balance of the land in 
the most advantageous shape. One is the very 
narrow, long house extending far back; the 
other is the wide and shallow house that covers 
practically the entire breadth of the land. Of 
these two the latter is preferable in one way, as 
it leaves a fairly good sized rectangle intact be- 
tween itself and the rear boundary. But here 
the exposure must enter into the calculations — 
for the long side of a dwelling ought always to 
meet the sun and the prevailing summer breeze. 
In the street running east and west the broad, 
shallow house will do this, but on north and 
south streets the long and narrow form, which 
leaves the open space at one side, will usually 
have to be adopted in order to secure the nec- 
essary southern exposure. 

I assume that southern exposure is univer- 
sally necessary to secure breeze as well as sun, 
inasmuch as it is so very generally so. There 
are instances, of course, where this is not the 
case, but they are usually owing to purely local 
conditions, topographical or otherwise, and are 
too uncommon to be reckoned with here. Suf- 
fice to say that where such local difference exists, 
it is only necessary to know from which direction 
the prevailing summer winds are to be expected 
and plan for these as well as for the sun. 



POSITION AND PLAN 19 

The essential thing is never to adopt any 
plan, however convenient and interesting it 
may be, that has not been developed with this 
thought of exposure jor your own particular 
location particularly in mind; and the right 
exposure for both comfort and health insured 
in its working out. Which makes the ready- 
made plan about as useful in most instances, 
however meritorious it may be in itself, as noth- 
ing at all. Only for what they may suggest to 
the prospective builder are such designs worth 
the effort or money spent on them; however, 
as they are frequently thus a source of real in- 
spiration, we must allow that they have their 
value and a place in the world's economy. 

The entire design and the final effect of the 
ground or garden treatment of any place will 
depend, then, upon fixing the situation of the 
house to the best advantage. Of course there 
is no universal rule to govern this initial step, 
but there are two fairly safe guides which might 
be called near-rules. Here is the first: If the 
long and narrow house be chosen — or demanded 
by conditions — place it at the extreme side limit 
of the lot and keep its width to twenty-five feet 
or under. When I say at the extreme side limit 
of the lot, I mean just that; cut off even the 
eaves by choosing a design that permits such 



20 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

treatment, and put its wall exactly on the line. 
Plan a basement service entrance on that side, 
with all passages, storage spaces, and presses 
on each floor likewise along its blind expanse. 
It need not be a blind wall in the building of it 
unless the next door dwelling makes this de- 
sirable; but think out the plan so carefully 
that the necessity for closing up whatever win- 
dows it may contain, should it arise, will work 
no real disadvantage to the interior. For even 
the narrow strip of land which would be sac- 
rificed on the other side if the house were set 
only a few feet from the line, is precious, mean- 
ing as it does an absolute waste of anywhere 
from one hundred and twenty to one hundred 
and fifty square feet — according to the length 
of the house — which should and might just as 
well be conserved in one with the ground on its 
sunny, living side. 

And here is the second: If the other sort of 
house is to be built, carry it all the way across 
the lot, right up to one or both boundaries; 
and make it as shallow as convenience and ex- 
pediency will permit, keeping both its side walls 
blind. There are two reasons for this very 
radical obscuring of side walls and eliminating 
of passage space at the sides, beside the reason 
already mentioned in connection with the long 



POSITION AND PLAN 21 

and narrow type of house. One of them is 
the very much greater degree of privacy exist- 
ing when an actual wall of wood or masonry, 
instead of a transparent wall of fluidic ether, 
separates two households, albeit the one is 
only a foot in width while the other may be 
five or six. The rooms whose windows open 
upon such a space as this are neither light 
nor well ventilated, while they labor under the 
additional disadvantage of acoustic properties 
that make conversation in them in tones above 
a whisper decidedly indiscreet, except the top- 
ics discussed be of the most general character. 

The other reason is the doing away with 
one of the most unpleasant and hopeless spots 
around the suburban house — the gloomy, re- 
stricted, chilly, and more or less damp space 
at the sides, where under the most favorable 
conditions only a little sunlight ever reaches 
the ground, where nothing will grow, where 
ice lingers when the grass is green everywhere 
else, and where no one ever goes for anything 
— except perhaps the children to play, when 
raw winds sweep through and it is too cold 
for them there. 

So much for practical considerations within 
the limits of the lot and concerning the imme- 
diate family whose home it is to be. And then 



22 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

there are the neighbors. Not what they think 
— be emancipated from that, in connection with 
home building at least — but how they and their 
grounds and houses are actually to be affected. 
Neighborliness is an old-fashioned quality to be 
sure, almost lost to the city dweller, but it is a 
very worthy one, nevertheless. Doubtless the 
folks next door are queer — I think none have 
ever been heard of who were not, indeed, al- 
most suspiciously queer — but even this consti- 
tutional eccentricity of theirs should not and 
need not inhibit the true measure of neighborly 
courtesy and consideration. 

They are not of necessity hereditary enemies, 
suspicions to the contrary notwithstanding; and 
an actual application of the golden rule is pos- 
sible in all ordinary cases, as well as a most 
satisfactory standard of measurement. City 
neighbors, living on either side of their party 
walls or piled one above the other's head, tier 
on tier, may be less than nothing to each other, 
but suburban neighbors are bound to play each 
a very definite part in the other's life. And 
well begun is a great deal more than half ac- 
complished in this complex relationship. 

So, if the neighbors are there first, plan not 
to impair their beginnings if it is possible. 
Avoid an arrangement which will bring kitchen 



POSITION AND PLAN 23 

doors under living-room windows — here the 
blind side walls again prove their advantage 
by making such a catastrophe impossible — and 
take care that trees or shrubs or arbors do not 
cut off what is obviously a cherished view, 
even if this embraces nothing more worthy than 
the distant corner of a busy street. If that 
sort of thing is what these neighbors like, that 
is the thing they enjoy looking at; do not de- 
prive them of it if it is possible to do the best 
by your own place without doing so. 

But on the other hand, never let a neighbor's 
misconceptions and bad taste be an obstacle to 
doing the very best that it is possible to do 
with the home that you are building. Put your 
house where it ought to go, making it the form 
and size and style that you require; screen 
what may need screening; fence, wall, or hedge 
the entire property — invariably — and never 
plan any part or feature so that it is in any 
way dependent upon the property adjacent. 
This is not to say that two places may not be 
delightfully developed through mutual conces- 
sions and by means of a unified plan that em- 
braces both; but even in doing this, they should 
be kept distinct. For, however amicable the 
relations between two families may be, there is 
always the possibility of a change in one or 



24 COME INTO THE Gx^RDEN 

both households that may change all the cir- 
cumstances absolutely. Be courteous, be con- 
siderate, make as generous concessions as friend- 
ship may prompt — but be independent. 

Of the division and use of the ground space 
left after building there are only a few general 
things to be said here, this being a subject for 
more special discussion in subsequent chapters. 
It is well for us to remember, however, that the 
most delightful small gardens that have ever 
been made have never been devoted wholly to 
flowers and flowering shrubs. These are the 
humble cottage gardens of the old world, which, 
though ablaze with flowers, furnish their quota 
of salads and greens, too, and of pungent herbs 
and fruits. And there is no doubt that greater 
thrift in gardening practice here would produce 
gardens of much greater interest and beauty. 

We are and always have been a nation of 
wasters; nowhere is this more apparent than in 
our handling of these small home plots. If we 
could reform ourselves in this respect it would 
be a great accomplishment from the esthetic as 
well as the practical point of view. For it is 
not so much a matter of money — although it 
counts decidedly, in real cash — but a matter of 
sound judgment; of good habits of order and 
efficiency and usefulness; of quickening the fac- 



POSITION AND PLAN 25 

ulty of appreciation. Moreover, although we 
have not needed to husband the natural re- 
sources of this fine and fat land wherein we are 
the fortunate dwellers, to any appreciable de- 
gree, the time is not so far distant when we shall 
be obliged to do so. 

Gardening is arduous work, of that there can 
be no question, nor to it a denial from any hon- 
est person of actual experience. But gardening 
among vegetables and flowers is no more ardu- 
ous than among flowers alone — ^and I think that 
no one who has tried it will deny that it is a deal 
more gratifying and satisfying. There should 
be flowers of course, quantities of them; but 
they ought never to crowd out the eatable 
plants. Even the tiny garden of the suburban 
home has room for several of the choicest of 
these; and, with its house on the north so that 
sunlight and protection are assured, and the 
largest area possible is available for cultivation, 
there is not a single reason for failure to round 
out a useful as well as a beautiful garden. 

Abandoning once and for all then the wrong 
ideal which sees in the small-town home a coun- 
try home in miniature, as well as the wrong idea 
which regards it as impossible of improvement 
from its barrenness; and taking all the points 
which have been covered into consideration. 



26 COIVIE INTO THE GARDEN 

balancing one against tlie other, it seems to me 
that we may almost declare it as an axiom that 
its highest beauty will certainly be achieved 
only when a sane utilitarian spirit is suffered to 
guide; when efficiency leads and beauty follows 
after to adorn. Neither need be sacrificed in the 
least degree, if their relationship is understood 
and kept true. 



"Many things difficult to design prove easy to per- 
formance." — Samuel Johnson. 



CHAPTER III 

Designing a Garden 

GARDENS as we commonly know them are not 
exalted to the dignity of being designed, for 
garden is a term that is usually applied only to 
that portion of the ground whereon vegetables 
grow. But as a matter of fact it should not be 
so limited, for rightly a garden is an inclosed 
space planted with trees, fruits, flowers, or vege- 
tables, or all four. So really the entire grounds 
about a dwelling constitute its garden or gar- 
dens; so it is as a garden that I am going to ask 
you to think of them. It is these in their en- 
tirety that are to be furnished with a design — 
that is, that are to be planned and made orderly 
and beautiful. And they must be considered as 
a unit in order to accomplish this with the best 
results. 

There must be no slipshod treatment any- 
27 



28 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

where, no ignoring of any portion, and no sep- 
aration of one part from another. All together 
the plot of ground must be considered, the front 
yard, back yard, and sides, if there are sides. 
Before a bush or tree or flower is planted, a plan 
which holds all these somewhat separated parts 
together into a well-balanced and consistent 
whole should be adopted. This is necessary not 
only from the aesthetic point of view, but from 
the practical as well, for only the most careful 
planning will insure the needed space for the 
various garden features; only such planning is 
economical in the true sense of the word. It is 
the arrangement of these features in accord with 
the ideals of harmony and beauty — and economy 
— that constitutes garden design. 

A vast amount of theory has been promul- 
gated with regard to this art, and hundreds of 
years of controversy have illuminated or ob- 
scured the subject, according to the nature of 
the controversialists. But all the discussion has 
left us very little indeed that is suggestive when 
it comes to dealing with the most modern prob- 
lem of all in gardening, the problem which is 
now before us. It really seems that we must 
solve it independently, just as we are solving 
the problem of the suburban house. Present 
conditions must evolve something to meet 



DESIGNING A GARDEN 29 

their need. That a desire to do something 
more definite than has been done is manifest- 
ing itself proves this evolutionary process to 
be in action, shows that we are making pro- 
gress. Having at last learned something about 
building, so that our houses are improving, 
we are beginning to be ready to learn some- 
thing about the finer art of gardening — as man 
has ever done. 

Already I have said that radical departures 
are necessary in order to arrive at the most that 
may be done with the small-town home. Until 
this fact is recognized and acted upon, the end- 
less lawns of these places will remain — fresh and 
green and much better than some less agreeable 
treatment might be, to be sure — yet tamely un- 
interesting. That they are uninteresting, when 
all is said and done, is most certainly demon- 
strated by the refreshment which even the most 
phlegmatic experience when, of a sudden, a real 
garden comes into view in place of the few 
shrubs and greensward so common. However 
unsuccessful such a garden may be from the 
artistic standpoint, it has interest, hence it pro- 
motes real enthusiasm. It is to such treatment, 
therefore, rather than to the conventional scat- 
tered planting of a few trees and shrubs, that I 
am going to direct attention, and with it I am 



^ 1 Foiintain 




30 



I. Scheme for plot fifty by one hundred feet in size, with 
a narrow house which leaves garden space at one side. 

The house plan and garden plan are treated as a unit. 
The garage is placed next the street, avoiding a long drive 
and its consequent waste and disfigurement. The hall lies 
between garage and house proper. The transverse axis of 
the Living Room furnishes the first feature of the garden — 
a broad terrace carrying the porch level to the side bound- 
ary, and there screened from outside observation by a series 
of rose-garland columns from which chains are suspended. 
On these chains the roses are trained. The terrace is re- 
tained by a dry, stone wall. 

The entrance from the street to the house is on the axis 
of the porch (A-B), which axis furnishes the further union 
with the rest of the grounds by a path extending to a Wall 
Fountain at the rear. This main entrance passes into a 
small flower garden under a rose arch, which spans the 
opening in the evergreen hedge — kept low — surrounding 
this little garden. A sundial is set in the middle; the form 
of the flower border is governed by the form of the steps 
approaching the front door of the house. It is to be noted 
that all this portion is on a lower level than the terrace 
and porch, and that tall flowers planted before these 
effectually screen them. 

Disposed around the boundaries of the front portion are 
eight dwarf fruit trees. Behind the terrace there is space 
for a rose garden if desired, or for strawberries and salad 
plants. A mass of small fruits behind this space divides it 
from the section across the back of the plot, all of which 
may be devoted to a little kitchen garden if desired. 

The service entrance to the house is through the base- 
ment by means of stairs at the side of the garage, screened 
by a lattice. The second story of the house extends over 
the garage and overhangs above these stairs, thus virtually 
closing them in. A lift leads into the kitchen from the cellar 
for the delivery of groceries, etc., and stairs lead up to a 
grade door, giving access to the rear. 

31 



32 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

going to deal; for the conventional planting is 
so well known that time spent in advice con- 
cerning it would be wasted. 

First, let us take the attitude that the ground 
plot, or plot of ground, right up to its bound- 
aries, is a plane or flat surface whereon some 
interesting motif is to be executed. Regard it 
in the same way that the cover of a book or the 
top of a box or any other sharply defined object 
would be regarded, if it fell to your lot to orna- 
ment such; disregard entirely at first the fact 
that it is ground, that it is your suburban lot. 

It is not necessary to be an artist, nor even a 
student of design, in order to observe one or two 
things concerning it which are fundamentals. 
One of these is the presence of a border in all de- 
signs of definite limitation. All-over patterns 
lack the border, but other designs, if they are 
good ones, do not. It may be only a broad line 
or a series of parallel lines, but it is invariably 
present when the design is made to conform to 
a certain place and space and form, framing the 
figures of it, holding them strongly together. 
So a border must confine the design that is to 
be executed upon the ground. What this border 
is to be made of need not be considered just yet ; 
that there is to be an inclosure of one kind or an- 
other, a definite and defensive barrier between 



DESIGNING A GARDEN 33 

the garden and the rest of the world, is enough 
for a beginning. 

Right here let me say that I cannot express 
too earnestly the belief that nothing worth while 
will ever be done with suburban or any other 
gardens until we restore the fences and walls so 
ruthlessly torn down and abandoned around the 
latter quarter of the last century. Neither will 
it be possible to accomplish much while our 
highest inspiration is the work undertaken by 
real-estate development companies. They were 
responsible for this destruction of boundary 
markings in the first place, in their endeavors to 
make streets "catchy" by reason of their nov- 
elty to persons passing through them, every 
such person being of course a potential sale. 
And because it is still the streets that the com- 
mercial designer wishes to dangle as bait before 
the undiscriminating, he will fight every effort 
to restore privacy to private grounds and the 
thrusting out from them of the public highway. 

There is absolutely no incentive to really fine 
garden work under the conditions which are to 
him ideal, however, and as long as these are tol- 
erated, the art will languish. Be sure of that. 
Not until all places, without exception, are in- 
closed completely — and have gates, too, at their 
entrances, not merely unprotected openings — 



II. Scheme for plot fifty by one hundred feet in size, 
using a house that extends across the land from boundary 
to boundary, leaving garden space at the rear. 

This house is Colonial in style, with garage and kitchen 
gables on either end, facing the street. It is centered on 
the land and the one axis serves to unite the entire scheme. 
A fence surrounds this property, and from the house back 
this is high enough to be a complete screen. Around the 
front it is lower, allowing free view of the lawn, circled by 
the entrance walk, which joins the short drive on its side. 
Passing through the house onto the broad porch the simple 
flower border opposite the house, backed by a low ever- 
green hedge, conceals the sunken kitchen garden which oc- 
cupies the rest of the space. A long but shallow arbor, open 
on the inner side, with seats beneath it, encloses the rear. 

At the end of the porch, back of the garage, is a bird 
sanctuary, consisting of a tangle of berried shrubs with 
some cedars, a bird-feeding station atop a high post, and 
a bird-bathing basin. 

Opposite this feature, at the other end of the porch, and 
screening the path from the basement to the kitchen gar- 
den, is a mass of small fruits, supplementing the six dwarf 
fruit trees which line the walk at the front. Before the 
garage is a shade tree. 



35 



36 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

will the instinct really to make garden awaken 
and really beautiful gardens appear. 

With the border allowed for — mark off a space 
at least one foot wide all around for such allow- 
ance, wider if you purpose planting a hedge — 
the plan of the space inclosed by it is immedi- 
ately before us. And here the personal equation 
enters at once, large and influential. People are 
divided, I find, into what I have secretly called 
orderly and disorderly in the matter of taste 
in gardens — secretly because disorderly seems 
generally to imply reproach, although I do not 
know that it does in this connection. In fact, 
the disorderly type commonly regard the orderly 
ones as offenders and apply the adjective to 
them almost in the tone of an epithet. So it all 
depends really on'the point of view; but after 
all, this is not pertinent to the question now and 
here involved. What matters here is the choice 
between regularity, symmetry, formality if you 
will, and irregularity, complexity, asymmetry, 
disorder in one sense — not actual untidiness but 
lack of arrangement. Everyone of us will take 
sides here, one way or the other; this is the big 
personal equation that will influence all the gar- 
den's plan within the simple lines representing 
its boundary. 

With equally careful planning it might seem 



DESIGNING A GARDEN 37 

at first that neither system would have an ad- 
vantage over the other, but there is a distinct 
advantage in practical accomplishment lying al- 
ways with the symmetrical arrangemetit. Walks 
that follow straight lines leave no useless comers 
and produce no wasted strips or crescents here 
and there. Every inch of space counts for its 
very fullest in the garden of mathematical pre- 
cision. Moreover it is well to bear in mind con- 
tinually the fact that whatever the natural taste 
may be, whether it demands a measure of care- 
less irregularity and repudiates positively the 
symmetry and order which are to another the 
highest form of beauty, or no, the limitations of 
the space and of the surroundings impose cor- 
responding limitations on individual garden 
development. 

In the interest of general harmony and seem- 
liness, therefore, order of one sort or another 
must distinguish even the irregular design. 
Wilderness treatment is as out of place in town 
environment as log-cabin architecture; and 
though there may be the most secluded nooks 
and idyllic retreats, there must be a certain 
all-pervading neat precision. In other words, 
limited grounds may show only to a very lim- 
ited degree that element which we commonly, 
though not very exactly, designate as infor- 








.'it-' i^'tTIIr 



38 



III. Scheme for a city plot measuring thirty by one 
hundred feet in size. (This is one and a half city lots.) 

Here a fireproof house has its garage and kitchen im- 
mediately on the street; the main entrance to the house 
itself is at the side of the garage and through iron gates 
that lead to a tiled porch. The living room opens onto the 
garden at its far end, while the dining room opens also at 
its rear upon a paved court, in which is set an outdoor 
aquarium. The house wall continues around the garden, 
with shrubbery at one side, an arbor at the rear, and vines. 
One ornamental tree is placed midway along the paved 
walk leading from the court to a piece of sculpture at the 
rear. 

In connection with city gardens it is to be noted that, in 
general, an arbor offers more secluded shade than a tree, 
since beneath an arbor and its mat of vines no eyes from 
upper windows may penetrate. Moreover, vines may al- 
ways be found that wUl grow and shortly cover an arbor, 
whereas trees will not always grow in the city — and even 
when they will they are a long time about it. 



39 



40 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

mality. They must conform to the general 
spirit of order. 

Rightly conceived, the garden is in the na- 
ture of an outdoor extension of the house. 
Every house requires a certain amount of gar- 
den treatment to make its presence on the face 
of the earth anything but an impertinence; for 
the hard and definite lines created with man's 
compass and square are antagonistic to every 
impulse of nature and the natural outdoors, and 
must be led up to gradually and insinuatingly, 
if harmony between man's work and nature's 
is ever to be attained. The charm of the an- 
cient house is largely owing to the loss of this 
acute and hard precision of line and form oc- 
casioned by its settling and yielding to Time — 
a very subtle and inappreciable loss in the case 
of well-preserved buildings, yet distinctly effec- 
tive in the bringing together of artificial and 
natural. Similarly, the thatch roof, either new 
or old, is a wonderful harmonizer, partly be- 
cause of its gracious lines and partly because 
of its crude natural material, topping and over- 
shadowing the walls that are so artificial. 

From the house, therefore, the garden is to 
work out in its several directions, to the outer 
limits or boundary of the plot. Hence it is 
from the house that the start must be made 



DESIGNING A GARDEN 41 

with the design; in other words, the house it- 
self will furnish the first motif or form in the 
design. And the principal doors or porches or 
porch entrances or windows will furnish incep- 
tive points from which the secondary motifs 
will proceed. Just what form these shall take 
and just how they shall be unified in spite of 
their diversity, are things which each designer 
must decide for himself — and for the particular 
situation which he is at work upon. Now, there- 
fore, we come to considering the design as ap- 
plied to the ground, rather than to a flat ab- 
stract surface of the given form. 

Here we are at once quite beyond the realm 
of certainty or rule, and only by the aid of 
diagrams will it be possible for me to general- 
ize even, with any chance of being understood. 
Four designs, therefore, are shown; but in none 
of these are more than the main features given, 
it being my wish only to suggest here principles 
for guidance which may be applied universally, 
rather than actually to give detailed designs. 

Starting with the house, in detailed plan, 
located upon the ground, the successive steps 
in the working up of each design are explained. 
That this natural development of the design 
by logical steps requires the detailed house 
plan is obvious; let nothing induce you to 




43 



Three Shrtjbbert GROtrps for Different Places 
Planting Ket 

If situated in full sunlight: 

1. Forsythia Forsythia Fortunei 

I. Spirea Spircea Van Houttd 

3. Japanese barberry Berberis Thungbergii 

4. Highbush cranberry Viburnum ojmlus 

5. Rose of Sharon Hibiscus Syriacus 

6. Hydrangea Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora 

7. Panicled cornel Cornus paniculata 

8. Mock orange (syringa) . . .Philadelphus coronarius 

9. Bush honeysuckle Lonicera Morrovd 

10. Deutzia Deutzia Lemmnei 

11. Common barberry Berberis vulgaris 

12. Sheepberry Viburnum Lentago 

If situated in shade: 

1. Silver bell Halesta Mraptera 

2. Tree hydrangea Hydrangea arborescens 

3. Japanese barberry Berberis Thunbergii 

4. Red osier Cornus stolonifera 

5. Silky cornel Cornus Amomum 

6. Regel's privet Ligustrum Ibota Regeliannm 

7. Panicled cornel Cornus paniculata 

8. Sweet pepper-bush Clethra alnifolia 

9. Maple-leaved viburnum. .FifeMrnwrn acerifolium 

10. Deutzia Deutzia Pride of Rochester 

II. Privet Ligustrum Ibota 

12. Indian cherry Rhamnus Carolina 



44 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

omit the careful drawing of this plan, there- 
fore, exact and to true scale, before another 
line is drawn. It may seem an unnecessary 
task at first thought to take such pains, espe- 
cially if the house is built and you are thor- 
oughly familiar with its layout; but house and 
garden are to be a unit, each complementing 
the other. Remember this ; and remember that 
the one preeminent means of unification is the 
axis. Without an exact plan on paper no axes 
are possible, however familiar you may be with 
the house plan; hence no means is provided 
for wedding the outdoors to indoors. Even the 
single axis, however, which a window or door 
or portico may furnish, gives immediate solidity 
and the strength of unity. Keep the need of 
this in mind and spare no pains to secure it. 

The first three of these designs are not formal 
in the sense of being symmetrical, it will be 
noticed, though the second approaches sym- 
metry. The reason for this is the lack of sym- 
metry in the house plans from which they spring. 
Always it must be house first; then, from this, 
rationally and conveniently and harmoniously, 
the garden. 



"To sing the same tune, as the saying Is, is in everything 
cloying and offensive ; but men are generally pleased with 
variety." — ^Plutabch. 



CHAPTER IV 

Gkades, Levels and Contours 

WHILE it is true that the usual flat surface 
of an average plot offers few alternatives 
in the matter of grading, it is also true that such 
a place is not as devoid of interest and possibil- 
ities as our accustomed and casual view of it 
presumes it to be. For one thing, the unbroken 
level is not imperative even on the perfectly flat 
piece of ground; and for another, ground that is 
perfectly flat is not as common as we fancy, or 
as the appearance of most finished suburbs 
would seem to indicate. It is our conception 
of it as flat that is responsible for its becoming 
so with the aid of shovels and barrows and 
scoops and rakes — those flatirons with which we 
smooth all the subtle little character wrinkles 
and coy dimples out of the good brown earth. 
This matter of grading — of ironing the face of 
45 



46 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

the earth out smooth — is an obsession which I 
am tempted to believe leads to wilder extrava- 
gances than any other in which a man may in- 
dulge. And it afflicts all sorts of men. Thomas 
Jefferson spent ten years in leveling a space eight 
or ten acres in extent on the top of the mountain 
where he built his home; and the sages of a vil- 
lage whereof I wot not long since graded to a 
level the entire town! Tons of earth from the 
broad tops of gentle knolls were laboriously 
hauled down upon the gracious curves of equally 
gentle depressions — a feat that dressed many 
of the roads with rich top soil and left much of 
the land stripped to its barren clay subsoil and 
as incapable as stone of supporting vegetation; 
while the trees everywhere, on both upland and 
lowland, were most of them killed, and the 
entire section was robbed of its character and 
all the claims to beauty and distinction which it 
once enjoyed. 

It seems to me that neither Mr. Jefferson nor 
the authorities of this town could have stopped 
to think; yet a hundred years and more have 
intervened between them, and this age should 
know better if the other did not. But the en- 
deavor has always been and is to change what 
creation itself has done with the earth. It seems 
to be impossible for the majority of human be- 



GRADES, LEVELS, CONTOURS 47 

ings to look at a hillside with an eye to building 
a house thereon, without immediately begin- 
ning to cakulate how the work of leveling will 
improve God-given conditions. Even those who 
are most truly lovers of nature, of rocks and 
woods and wilderness, fall into the same line of 
thought when it comes to a consideration of 
domestic grading; and the suburban place ad- 
justed to its site, when that site is the least bit 
unruly, is the rarest of rarities. 

Already the rule which I would establish in 
handling grades is apparent, I think, without 
being formulated; but if it is to be a rule it 
must be expressed. I have always called it fol- 
lowing the lead of the land. After all, this is 
what we are bound to do, in the long run. We 
may stir up a little dust here, and scratch off a 
little there, but from the great lead of the land, 
rising and dipping or stretching off to the hori- 
zon as level as the sea, we can never, actually, 
get away. And it is a waste of energy and time 
— and beauty — to try. 

Approach your individual problem without 
preconceived ideas to befog its real demands as 
well as its real possibilities. Then you will be 
able to conceive a design or scheme for it that 
will be actually a part of it, and of it alone, un- 
influenced by this or that that has appealed to 



48 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

the fancy somewhere, sometime. If creation 
has whimsicallj^ tilted the ground appropriated 
to j'oiir use at ever so steep an angle, that angle 
should not only be accepted as a motif, but it 
should be emphasized. Go farther than tolera- 
tion — or resignation. Seize upon the extrava- 
gance of a site always and make it the feature 
of the place; develop the plan of both house 
and grounds not merely to fit the situation but 
to require it. There is a great difference in 
spirit between these two — as great a difference 
as always lies between negative and positive. 
And as great a difference will show in results. 

For example, the house and garden occupying 
what has facetiously been dubbed a vertical 
plot should be developed up and down — verti- 
cally as well as horizontally. Different levels in 
both should be emphasized, and may even be 
exaggerated sometimes, by any device that will 
tend to do this. Topping a height with tall, 
straight trees, like poplars, is one means to this 
end, while the use of a spirited architecture of 
rising lines is another. Entrances to the house 
at various levels which evolve of themselves in 
adjusting to such a site contribute greatly to 
the charm of the whole and create an interest 
of the quaint and unexpected indoors and out, 
as well as opportunity for the most delightful 



GRADES, LEVELS, CONTOURS 49 

garden schemes. A little more constructive work 
out of doors is necessary in the making of re- 
taining walls, perhaps, and steps, but these 
once made are permanent, and the different 
levels afford real gardening space. 

Contrast such a treatment with the unhappy, 
barren, uninteresting effect which is all that the 
most carefully smoothed slope achieves, and 
contrast its upkeep, too, with the difficulties of 
maintaining such a slope, of keeping it grassed 
and mowed — indeed of keeping it there at all 
under the wash of heavy rains and the freez- 
ing and thawing of winter — and there is not a 
single point in favor of the latter. Yet so bent 
upon leveling and smoothing are a great many 
architects and their patrons too, that not one 
house in fifty, big or little, do we find following 
the lead of the land. Which is a pretty large 
percentage of wrong beginnings and, taken in 
the aggregate, a startling waste — as well as a 
discouraging state of affairs to the landscape 
architect, called in later. For the mistakes in, 
and of, the house make the best work out of 
doors impossible, as I think I have already 
shown in the previous chapter. A garden, you 
know, grows out from the house. 

So start right. Find the lead and then follow 
it — and until it is found do not take a step. For 



50 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

whatever the topography, there is a lead; and 
though it may hide itself persistently, diligent 
consideration will reveal it. Hints rise veri- 
tably out of the ground, so it is the ground 
that must be searched to find them. Keep in 
mind that the object in all you do is to insinuate 
your presence and handiwork into the presence 
of the earth spirits and their handiwork so 
gently and deftly and subtly that harmony will 
never be disturbed; and realize that this may 
be done only by accepting their mood as dis- 
played in the chosen bit and adopting it for 
yours — for the mood of your home. Do the 
thing, in other words, that is obviously the logi- 
cal thing, the thing that evolves easily and 
naturally along the lines established back in the 
ages when earth was plastic. Low ground or 
high, flat or sloping, take it as it is; do as it 
bids you. 

Difficulties are at once apprehended at this 
mention of low ground, I know; but there is 
really no more reason for shrinking from frank 
treatment in a hollow than on a hill. Bear in 
mind, too, that unskilled labor can cart earth 
from place to place and fill the hollow with the 
hill, but surely intelligence and imagination 
ought not to resort to methods so crude. Intel- 
ligence and imagination should be able to pre- 



GRADES, LEVELS, CONTOURS 51 

serve the hollow and the hill and to find a way 
to make both habitable and beautiful. 

Where there is no complicating drainage to 
consider, the sunken garden planned especially 
for winter snugness perhaps, sheltered and 
sunny, is obviously the solution. But where 
water settles, something else must be done of 
course. Yet the very last thing which ought 
ever to be thought of in handling a natural 
drainage dip is filling in. Such a situation is 
never improved by filling, for water below the 
surface is no real advantage, when it comes to 
the matter of dry foundations, over water on the 
surface. What, then, is to be done where water 
stands? 

Make the water difficulty a feature by con- 
centrating on it and putting enough thought 
into its treatment to earn and reap the reward 
of a personal triumph and of individuality and 
beauty in the garden. Find the key to the situ- 
ation — and use it. Why is the water there? For 
no reason save that it settles from the surround- 
ing surfaces; in other words, it drains in from 
higher levels. Very well; make the drainage 
more complete. Provide one spot at the lowest 
point so much lower and deeper than all the rest 
that the water will settle only in it — and make 
this a swamp or bog garden. Or clear and exca- 



5^2 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

vate still more and turn swamp into pool, with 
a stock of goldfish or commoner kinds as mos- 
quito exterminators. 

In this connection let me say that in order to 
insure against mosquito breeding, every tiny 
little water pocket among the grasses and the 
mud at the margin of such a pool or pond must 
be opened to the fish and kept so; and all over- 
hanging branches of trees or shrubs must be 
cleared away so there shall be no deep shadows 
which they will avoid and so miss the larvre. 
The presence of mosquitoes around a well 
stocked pool is a sure indication that one or both 
of these requirements have not been met, for if 
the larvae are where the fish can get them, they 
will do so. It is only when the fish are shut off 
from them by grasses or shadows that they fail 
in the mission assigned them. 

The efi'ect of topography upon garden design 
is of course very great. Yet design, even upon 
irregular ground, is governed in a general sense 
by the same considerations which afi'ect it else- 
where, in spite of the great measure of liberty 
which it must have in order to conform to the 
ground's undulations. For the axes are quite 
as important whatever the contours, and the 
border, framing and holding all together, is just 
as necessary. A design may be simple too — ■ 



GRADES, LEVELS, CONTOURS 53 

even though it does not stay on one plane all 
the time. But to work out a plan for grounds of 
irregular surface, the irregularities must be con- 
sulted and set down upon the drawing; other- 
wise the plan cannot fit. It is, therefore, a little 
less simple to design such a garden, and a topo- 
graphical map is essential as a basis to work 
upon, if any great irregularities exist. 

This is getting rather too deep into techni- 
calities possibly for the average amateur; yet 
a contour map is a very simple thing, easy to 
understand and easy to work upon — and not 
indeed very difficult to make, although I shall 
not ask you to go quite as far as that. For an 
engineer's survey should be made of land that 
varies enough to affect house and garden de- 
sign; then all the work can be planned exactly. 
Such a survey reckons usually from a level pre- 
viously determined by the general survey of the 
town or county, but this does not matter. All 
that matters is the mark of the lowest level, 
which will be the lowest figure given, whatever 
the situation may be. This mark may be or 
anything else; but everything that is not on its 
level will be above it. 

Contours at one foot ascend from this lowest 
plane a foot at a time; that is, imagining the 
land under survey to be submitted to an inun- 



54 COIME INTO THE GARDEN 

dation, every rise of one foot in the waters shows 
a water mark on hills and knolls that is at ex- 
actly the same level everywhere, all the way 
around. The wavy, irregular contour line on a 
topographical map represents the plan of such 
a water mark; and each one foot rise narrows 
the remaining portions of dry land and widens 
the spread of the (imagmary) waters, until at 
last only little islands remain here and there, 
whose topmost heights are something less than 
a foot above the last rise. Obviously, where a 
slope is very steep the contour lines fall very 
close together when seen from above; where it 
is gradual, they widen out. 

Working on such a plan of the ground itself, 
the plans for the house and for the garden may 
be adjusted perfectly; terrace levels may be 
calculated and terrace outlines fixed to take ad- 
vantage of every gradation and variation. And 
though there is always of necessity a certain 
measure of excavating and reestablishing of dis- 
turbed earth coincident with building, and some 
grading is imperative, these are reduced to the 
minimum through the exact adjustment and 
calculation possible. Moreover, the form and 
size of garden divisions depend so greatly upon 
varying levels, where these exist, that it is really 
impossible to plan without them. 



GRADES, LEVELS, CONTOURS 55 

Land that is uneven of surface is more often 
found clothed with scrub trees and undergrowth 
than the commoner level and conventional plot, 
probably because the cleared meadows of farm 
lands which are the first offerings of the coun- 
try to the suburb, were usually their level por- 
tions, I suppose, while the hillsides were left un- 
cultivated. And in this natural growth there is 
another valuable suggestion for the garden, as 
well as an actual beginning sometimes. For 
even the most unpromising specimens already 
established, if given proper care and attention, 
have an advantage over trees and shrubs that 
are introduced. 

Preservation of such growth, however, is only 
accomplished by the preservation of the grades 
whereon it is fixed, for the surface levels above 
the roots of trees cannot be appreciably changed 
without great risk to the trees — a risk varying 
somewhat according to the varieties represented 
and the amount of the change in level, to be 
sure, but always present nevertheless. Six inches 
of soil added or six inches removed may very 
easily prove fatal, while less is often the occa- 
sion of a severe set-back or general decline from 
which they recover very slowly and perhaps 
never completely. This is because roots grow 
at the depth which insures them the right de- 



56 COIME INTO THE GARDEN 

gree of moisture, of warmth, and of air, and any 
change in this depth seriously affects all three. 
The removal of even a small amount- of earth 
allows the sun to bake them as well as to draw 
away the precious moisture from them. And 
of course it increases the air supply as well — 
dangerously. 

On the other hand, the addition of earth 
shuts this off, smothering them; and it upsets, 
too, the moisture and warmth equilibrium which 
is so carefully and nicely adjusted. So if trees 
are to be preserved they must be allowed their 
places undisturbed. No change of more than 
two inches either way should be made in the 
ground around them within the space covered 
by the full spread of their branches, which is 
the space occupied by the spread of their roots 
— and even this is not desirable. 

I have spoken almost entirely of grading and 
grade treatment on irregular ground because 
ground of this character naturally demands 
more attention than ground which is level. But 
there are one or two interesting possibilities on 
even the level tract or plot that are all too sel- 
dom realized. One of these is the terrace as 
shown in the first design, page 30, another is 
the terrace in the rear of the house, page 34. 

There is always a measure of earth to be dis- 



GRADES, LEVELS, CONTOURS 57 

posed of when a cellar is excavated. Com- 
monly this is hauled away from the place that 
does not require filling to bring it to the cus- 
tomary dead level; and this sometimes, if not 
usually, is done at some expense. A terrace 
effectually makes use of this instead — and varies 
the uninteresting dead level most agreeably 
into the bargain. Moreover it affords a vantage 
point from which to look beyond the boundary 
planting, just as did the ancient mount within 
the mediaeval walled garden. And the terrace 
approach to the house is of all treatments the 
most effective, especially if for any reason it is 
necessary or desirable to set a house high above 
the ground. 

The ramped walk is a pleasant feature alto- 
gether too little known and adopted on the 
small place, yet really possible anywhere. Why 
this graceful slope does not more often take the 
place of the steps which we so laboriously build 
and climb I cannot imagine, unless it be because 
the idea is generally unknown. Excepting at 
the main and formal entrance from the street to 
the house, this ascent is everywhere appropriate; 
its suggestion of intimacy and ease, however, 
bars it from the entrance at which strangers ap- 
proach. It should never be carried out in stone 
or cement or any artificial medium; but in the 



58 CONNIE INTO THE GARDEN 

garden, where gravel or grass walks — preferably 
the latter — are possible, any rise where steps 
ordinarily lead from one level to the other af- 
fords an opportunity for a ramp. 

A grade of from thirty to thirty-five or -six 
per cent, is the best, this being comfortable of 
ascent and easily established and preserved. 
That is, there should be an advance horizon- 
tally of three feet or thereabout for every foot 
of rise. And although this takes up more space 
than steps in order to reach a given height, it 
is space that can usually be spared without ap- 
preciable disadvantage. Sometimes lawn the 
entire width of a porch may effectively be 
ramped up to the porch floor level and the porch 
steps eliminated altogether. Opportunities for 
charming and interesting efl'ects will suggest 
themselves, if this idea is given some attention 
and its possibilities allowed to develop easily, 
without being overdone, 

When grading or terracing is to be done any- 
where, go about it in the right way by removing 
the top soil first to a depth of from six to eight 
inches — more if this soil is deeper; the color will 
tell you — over the entire area to be excavated, 
and also over the area which is to be terraced or 
ramped or altered in any way. Put tliis in a 
convenient place where it will not interfere with 



GRADES, LEVELS, CONTOURS 59 

building and grading operations, but will be ac- 
cessible when wanted. Then do the work of 
grading everywhere, bringing all levels to with- 
in six inches of their proposed finished sur- 
face. When all this is done restore the top soil 
to the top, spreading it evenly and a little deeper 
than the six inches allowed over those areas 
which have been built up, as these will settle. 

I would advise retaining walls of stone or 
brick invariably instead of sloping' grassed ter- 
races, both for their greater permanence and for 
their superior merit artistically and practically. 
A garden of the before mentioned vertical char- 
acter may be broken, by means of such walls, 
into levels that provide as much room for vege- 
tables and flowers as any flat tract of the same 
area; and at the same time the walls themselves 
furnish space for a quantity of fruit — much more 
of course than the single wall surrounding the 
garden on a level site affords. 



". . . . A garden circummur'd with brick. 
Whose western side is with a vineyard back'd; 
And to that vineyard is a planched gate — " 

— Measure for Measure. 

CHAPTER V 

Boundary Trkitments 

THERE are three distinct forms of defense pos- 
sible — the fence, the wall, and the hedge. 
And of each of these there are several types; so 
that something suitable to every type of house 
as well as to every kind of situation may be 
found. To choose just any sort of thing that 
will keep out the intruding elements alien to the 
perfect garden is therefore not necessary — and 
is, further, not excusable. For harmony is as 
important between house and grounds and 
boundary treatment as it is between house and 
grounds. A place which may be delightful when 
inclosed with simple palings or a hedge may be 
altogether overdone if a wall of brick or stone 
defines its limits and protects its interior. Do 
not regard time spent in examining into the 
claims of the various features which may be 
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BOUNDARY TREATMENTS 61 

chosen for the boundary, therefore, as time 
wasted; analyze each from every point of view, 
and do not settle upon anything without know- 
ing that it is the best thing for the place in 
question. 

Further, let me say that whatever is being 
considered let it always be regarded as a pro- 
tective barrier and never be regarded as an orna- 
ment, in itself. Ornamental a well-designed and 
well-built fence or wall, or well-kept hedge, as- 
suredly may be and will be; but it is never for 
the purpose of ornamenting that it is built — and 
for an outer boundary especially the quality of 
unobtrusiveness is the one to court. Within a 
garden of a certain type, treillage and elaborate 
latticework and fencing are appropriate, but 
this sort of thing should never be used to separ- 
ate private ground from the highway or from 
adjoining lands. Whatever is ultimately dis- 
covered to be the proper boundary treatment to 
harmotiize with the house and the grounds in a 
given environment, therefore, is to be designed 
finally with a view to keeping it in a low key and 
never to attracting attention to it or to occa- 
sioning remark at its striking character. 

It is of course only possible to generalize in 
somewhat broad terms with regard to the suit- 
ability of the various kinds of boundary treat- 



62 co:me into the garden 

ment to different styles of architecture and dif- 
ferent environment, since many things enter in 
to cause exceptions, now and then, to what may 
seem a positive rule. But as a beginning it is 
pretty safe to say that the hedge is, of all forms 
of inclosure, better suited to the average non- 
descript place than anything 'else, because it 
is, in itself, a compromise between the definite 
elements of architecture and the indefinite qual- 
ties of nature. 

The deciduous hedge has this about it, more- 
over, which recommends it; it insinuates itself 
into a community without shocking the sensi- 
bilities of even the most conventional adherent 
of the real-estate style of landscape, for it starts 
low and only gradually becomes the full-fledged 
barrier that it is proposed to maintain. And 
while it is growing to its fullness of height and 
breadth and efl'ectiveness, everyone grows ac- 
customed to it and comes to accept it as a 
matter of course; whereas, if a fence had been 
boldly erected it would have seemed a piece of 
impertinence to the entire neighborhood, so es- 
tablished are most neighborhoods in the thought 
that garden seclusion and privacy is a direct 
aftront to neighborly privilege. 

So it is the hedge that shall have first place in 
our considerations — not, be it understood, be- 



BOUNDARY TREATMENTS 63 

cause I accord it first place as a garden bound- 
ary, by any means; but because it is so gener- 
ally useful and so generally possible. It requires, 
of course, to make it wholly effective as a pro- 
tection, the reinforcement which a fence alone 
will give, although if it is properly established 
at the time of planting and properly cared for 
thereafter, it is possible to develop it into an 
impenetrable mass of close-set branches right 
down to the ground. And of course nothing 
short of this approaches the true ideal for a 
hedge. 

Perhaps no plant has ever had the vogue for 
hedge purpose which the California privet en- 
joys, and no plant has ever more deserved its 
popularity. It is not because it is cheap, either, 
that it is popular, though this of course partly 
accounts for the wide use of it. But its great 
adaptability to all sorts of places and all but the 
extremely cold sections of the country, its rapid 
growth, and the beautiful wall of living green 
which it presents when rightly attended, play 
quite as large a part in its popularity as its low 
price. And even when it is killed out in a winter 
of unusual severity — as much of it was during 
the unprecedented winter of 1919-20 — it comes 
again from its roots, if cut back properly, and 
renews itself within an astonishingly short time. 



64 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

The plants for a privet hedge should be pref- 
erably three-year-olds at least, for these alone 
will insure plants that are thick and well 
branched at the ground — which is almost the 
most important thing about a plant that is to 
go into a hedge. Set them nine inches apart, 
and from one foot to two feet mside the actual 
boundary line of the property they are to in- 
close; and set them deep into the ground. The 
simplest way to go about the work is to have 
a trench dug some five or six inches deeper 
than the roots of the plants; on to the bottom 
of this spread well-rotted manure, then sprinkle 
earth enough over it to cover it. Then set the 
plants along in the trench, puttmg enough earth 
over the roots of each as it is held in place, to 
keep it there, but not filling in the trench until 
all are set. when it can all be done rapidly, 

"NMien the planting is done, cut back the 
plants to within two inches of the ground — 
which, by the way, is the hardest thing about 
the entite proceeding usually, for the novice 
at any rate. And I will agree that to cut back 
a perfectly good bush that is perhaps four feet 
high and strong and well branched, until noth- 
ing is left of it but the stumps of its branches 
standing just above the surface of the earth, re- 
quires some determination — and possibly more 



BOUNDARY TREATMENTS 65 

faith. It is the only right way to make a right 
start, however; for any other way will produce 
a hedge that is bare and weak at the ground 
and that will, moreover, always remain so. For 
it is only just below the point of pruning that 
a plant sends up new growth; consequently if 
it is pruned high, this new growth will be high 
up, whereas if it is pruned close to the ground 
the new growth will begin at the ground — where 
it must be in order to produce a hedge that is 
dense and thick from bottom to top. 

Deciduous hedges should be sheared annually 
at least, and the privet usually requires shear- 
ing twice during the summer while it is estab- 
lishing itself, since its growth is rapid and it is 
important to shape it carefully during its early 
years. And of its shape let me say very em- 
phatically that it must always be narrower at 
the top than at the bottom, if it is to maintain 
its branches down to the ground and conform 
generally to the ideal set for it. The Gothic 
arch, slightly flattened at the apex, is the best 
form possible, though the sides may slope in on 
a straight line from bottom to top, if preferred. 

The principle involved is simple; namely, 
that the growth must be able to receive light 
and air equally all the way to the bottom. 
Only by making the branches above shorter 



66 COINIE INTO THE GARDEN 

than those below them, is it possible to insure 
the latter their proper quota; and of course 
this results in the in-sloping sides. A secondary 
advantage of this form is the greater strength 
of the hedge mass under weight of snow or ice 
and its consequent resistance; for snow or ice 
resting upon it is supported by practically all 
of its branches instead of by only the top 
branches, as is the case when a uniform width 
is preserved and the top is flat. 

The height to which a hedge of privet may 
be carried is limited only by the height of the 
shrub when left to its own devices; as this is 
fifteen feet it is apparent that high and beauti- 
ful living walls are possible through the use of 
this variety. As a matter of fact, however, I 
would not advise bringing it to more than ten 
feet or even eight, unless on a large place and 
under exceptional circumstances. In England 
an upright narrow hedge only a foot in width 
and from five to nine feet in height is sometimes 
developed, and beautiful things they are; but 
we have always to remember that our extremes 
of heat and cold make it difficult to do many 
things in America that English gardeners have 
no trouble with. This is not to say, however, 
that walls of privet of this height and width 
are not possible here; but as with the more 



BOUNDARY TREATMENTS 67 

usual hedge, I would advise tapering them from 
a width of two feet at least at the bottom to a 
foot at the top and leaving the top rounded 
rather than jflattened. 

In the early days of gardening here, the ar- 
borvitse was much used for garden hedges; and 
it is as good to-day as it was then. For a hedge 
of evergreen, indeed, it is hardly excelled, and 
it endures shearing perfectly. But its shape 
naturally is such that not a great deal of atten- 
tion is needed to keep it in the desired form, 
for it conforms to the lines of the Gothic arch 
almost without touching the shears to it. When 
used as a hedge, the plants should be set not 
quite their width apart, whatever size they may 
be. This will insure their becoming a solid, 
dense mass as they grow. Pruning should be 
directed to keeping them at the height decided 
upon, and evenly sloping on the sides of the 
hedge. 

Prune evergreen hedges in June, preferably, 
as they are then at the fullness of their seasonal 
activity and will not suffer from the operation, 
and will moreover soon clothe themselves with 
their new growth, which will then conform to 
the desired lines. Deciduous pruning or shear- 
ing should be done in June and again, if neces- 
sary, in August — the latter while the hedge is 



68 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

being formed. After this the midsummer work 
will ordinarily be enough. 

There are of course other plants available for 
both deciduous and evergreen hedges, but I pre- 
fer not to confuse the issue by dealing with them 
here. Consideration of the hedge is not com- 
plete, however, without reference to the use of 
honeysuckle or actinidia supported by ribbon 
wire or by any good strong wire fencing. Rib- 
bon wire is the simplest to use, for it requires 
only fastening to the posts as it is stretched, 
while wire fencing requires a fence stretcher and 
considerable work to erect it properly and per- 
manently. Furthermore, it is doubtful if any 
wire fencing is actually permanent, since time 
does make inroads upon it even when it is 
painted and well cared for. So the ribbon wire, 
which is easily renewed, is again a better choice 
unless absolute impenetrability is desired. 

On posts set eight or nine feet apart, three 
rows of this will furnish support for the vines 
which will, in a very short time, provide a fine 
and dense hedge — of an almost evergreen 
character if of the honej'suckle, for it holds its 
leaves throughout the winter in all but the se- 
verest latitudes. Set the plants at every post 
and two between; and see to it that, as they 
grow, they are twined on to the wire and carried 



BOUNDARY TREATMENTS 69 

up as fast as they have covered the lower wires, 
to the top one and along this. A httle watching 
and directing will rapidly form the growing mass 
into almost as even a hedge as one of sheared 
privet or arborvitse; and as each summer adds 
the twining branches of its growth to those al- 
ready established, such a hedge will thicken and 
become a veritable wall of green which may be 
trimmed enough with the shears to prevent its 
being ragged. 

For very high screens or boundary planting 
on large plots the beech tree offers wonderful 
possibilities, holding its leaves throughout the 
winter as it does and adapting itself perfectly 
to severe shearing and shaping. And as it 
may be maintained at a width of perhaps only 
four or five feet when its height is twenty or 
more, its usefulness as a screen on a place of 
limited size is apparent; for it takes up actu- 
ally very little room. 

Second only to the hedge in general suitability 
and usefulness is the wood fence of one kind or 
another, built in a manner to conform with the 
style and the character of the house beyond it. 
There are of course many fashions for this, 
ranging all the way from the solid deal or plain 
board fence of the city or large town back- 
yard to the palings or picket fence of the trim 



70 COME DsTO THE GARDEN 

New England village; but when anything apart 
from the simplest design is approached, beware! 
Xot that real variation in design may not be 
considered, but that the unusual is. as I have 
already warned, not to be selected if, by such 
selection, attention will be drawn to the fence 
before anything else is noted. 

As a general rule there is a fence suited to 
practically every house that is really architec- 
turally good, even in the humblest way; but 
further to generalize, I may say that the picket 
fence, or palings, seems naturally to take its 
place before the modest house of discreet and 
unpretentious Colonial type, while the post-and- 
rail fence demands a rather more spacious, wide- 
spreading dwelling of somewhat the same char- 
acter. One is. in other words, essentially the 
town or village type, the other more especially 
the farmstead type; and it is well to try and use 
them accordingly. But this is not to say that 
there may not be places in the close confines of 
a town where the latter will produce a better 
elfect than the former — as for example before a 
house standing high up on an eminence rising 
directly from the street. In such a case, how- 
ever, the eminence itself becomes in part the 
barrier shutting otT the highway; and the 
fence topping it does not need to be of the 



BOUNDARY TREATMENTS 71 

close-set type in order to make the setting apart 
complete. 

Which prompts me to observe that it is after 
all something of a psychological problem, this 
whole matter of boundary barriers, as well as a 
problem of actual protection. For it is neces- 
sary to seem protected as well as to be protected 
— but not to establish a sense of fortification in 
doing this, since after all it is only against peace- 
ful invasion that defense is being established. 
To do enough without doing more than enough 
is, therefore, a matter of real concern, and re- 
straint is very necessary in the small garden. 

Of high and latticed ornamental fences it 
may be said that their function as screens is 
perfectly legitimate and their use is to be en- 
couraged if circumstances demand them; but 
this is rarely on the street side of a dwelling, 
since on this side none of the actual garden 
features that invite to intimate use and com- 
panionship will be located. And there is an 
element of the bizarre in a fence of this char- 
acter which strikes the beholder more forcibly 
than we desire. They are dramatic — or even 
melodramatic — and that is the thing we are 
avoiding. 

If a street exposure must be inclosed with a 
high fence for one reason or another, a better 



72 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

selection than lattice topping therefore is a solid 
structure of the simplest lines, capped with 
substantial coping and simply paneled, if de- 
sired, the whole painted in conformity with the 
house. In other words, duplicate the effect of 
a wall, frankly; and do nothing to call special 
attention to it. Such a fence, with a gateway 
admitting a vista within, or a doorway through 
it, if its height is sufficient for this, possesses 
the qualities of dignity and permanence and 
serious intent which instinctively are felt to be 
seemly in the public aspect of a home. 

Walls of brick or stone or plaster are of 
course desirable above all else, providing house 
and grounds generally are in keeping; but never 
resort to a wall on any sort of place unless it 
can be a continuation of one of the house walls 
and thus come into existence naturally and 
logically. This presupposes a house of masonry, 
usually; yet not invariably, inasmuch as a wall 
of stone or brick or even of plaster may per- 
fectly well continue from a house foundation 
i\-all of the same material, and thus preserve 
unity with the house, though the latter is itself 
built of wood. 

For the city garden nothing can equal the 
effect obtained by a continuance of the house 
walls in this way, as we need go no farther than 



BOUNDARY TREATMENTS 73 

some of our own old Southern cities to discover. 
In very crowded cities, indeed, such a wall be- 
comes the larger part of the garden, since only 
a fewkinds of plants will live in the atmosphere, 
and wall tiles, recessed bits sheltering sculp- 
ture, wall fountains and seats must provide the 
color, interest, and beauty usually furnished by 
them. 

Variation in the height of a wall wherever 
there is a real reason for it — that is, at a point 
where the contour of the land or where a turn, 
or a junction with some different section of the 
garden, or some other element of change makes 
it logical — is pleasing usually, and sometimes is 
almost necessary; especially is this felt when a 
wall entirely surrounds the grounds. One break 
alone will suffice, many times; or even the vari- 
ation that comes of a gateway. But this much 
at least is needed to avoid monotony and the 
sense of grim (overdone) defense. To extend a 
wall some distance from the house at a consid- 
erable height and then to decrease this height 
is one way of achieving the necessary variation. 

Of course a study of good examples is just 
as essential to intelligent and discriminating 
selection when it is a wall for the garden that 
is under consideration as when it is the house 
itself. So without regard to preconceived ideas 



74 COME INTO THE G.VRDEN 

or prejudices, go carefully over as many books 
of good architecture, both hmdscape and build- 
ing, as it is possible to lay hands on, before de- 
ciding on any features that must be designed 
and built. No one can know how limited his 
knowledge is until he seeks thus to broaden it; 
and certainly not until it has been broadened 
is it possible to exercise taste and to select with 
full appreciation of all the finer points involved. 
A list of the best hedge plants for different 
sections of the country is appended. Of fence 
and wall materials I will say only that there are 
two things to avoid. The first is the so-called 
ornamental wire fence, the second is the con- 
crete block wall — unless it is plastered and the 
blocks obliterated completely. As a foundation 
such blocks may serve but never as the final 
wall surface. And as to the wire fencing, unless 
it is used as the support of such a vine hedge as 
I have earlier mentioned, it fails altogether to 
give any sense of mclosure, since it allows all 
the world to look in, if not to enter. And it 
cannot, by the wildest stretch of the imagina- 
tion, be regarded as beautiful in and by itself; 
apart from pure utility, therefore, there can be 
no reason for usmg it. And there can be no 
reason whatsoever for using rails of gaspipe or 
chains swimg through iron posts, smce these 



BOUNDARY TREATMENTS 75 

are neither good to look at nor good for any- 
thing as an inclosure! 

Hedge Materiai. 
The Northern States: 

Common privet Ldgiuitrum vulgare 

Amoor privet Ligiustrum amurense 

Russian olive Eleagntia argentea 

Arborvitai Thuya occidentalis 

The Middle States: 

California privet Idgustrum ovalifolium 

Box-leaved barberry . . .Berheris huxifolia 

Japanese yew Taxus cvspidata 

Arborvitae Thuya occidentalis 

The Southern States: 

Evergreen privet Ligustrum lucidum 

Tree box Buxus sempervirens 

English holly Ilex aquifolium 

Abelia Ahelia grandiflora 

Vines as Substitutes 

Hall's honeysuckle . . . .Lonicera Japonica, Halliana 
Actinidia Actinidia arguta 



"No line or compass traced its plan; 
With frequent bends to left or right 
In aimless, wayward curves it ran 
But always kept the door in sight." 

— The Crooked Footpath. — Holmes. 

CHAPTER YI 
Walks, Paths and Garden E^'TIlANCEs 

THE value of first impressions is too well 
establislied to need expounding, so if I 
merely call attention to the fact that here we 
have the feature responsible for the first im- 
pressions of a garden, the importance of walks 
and entrances will not call for further emphasis. 
Responsible in many ways too are these walks, 
paths, and entrances: through the material of 
which they are constructed they make one sort 
of impression, through their form another, and 
by reason of what architects call their scale 
still another. 

Material has been mentioned first because it 
is. in one way. the most ob^"ious thing, more 
glaring when badly chosen, contributing in a 
larger degree to a pleasant effect when well 



WALKS, PATHS, ENTRANCES 77 

chosen. But the obviousness of material should 
by no means detract from a realization of the 
importance of a walk's form or line of direction 
and its scale — although I personally feel that a 
walk or path or even an entrance gateway may 
be more comfortably tolerated when its design 
and scale are altogether failures but its material 
suitable and harmonious, than when a very ex- 
cellent design or plan is executed in the wrong 
substance and thus thrown distressingly out of 
scale. 

Material and scale — otherwise proportion — 
affect each other so intimately that they can- 
not, as a matter of fact, be considered as things 
apart; indeed, scale in one sense is altogether 
dependent on material. For example, a grano- 
lithic walk leading to the door of a shingled cot- 
tage is out of scale even though its width be 
kept down to the minimum, whereas a most 
generous walk of gravel or even of bricks, loosely 
laid, would not be, owing of course to the greater 
harmony of material. 

Sidewalks of cement along the highway are 
unquestionably superior to any others, but with- 
in the garden — which means within the bound- 
aries of the plot, remember — they are in nearly 
all cases quite hopeless. Indeed I cannot recall 
a single exception. There is something so grimly 



78 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

uncompromising about cement, so public-seem- 
ing — and so ugly when brought into close rela- 
tion with grass and flowers and the garden gen- 
erally — that it puts a blight upon beauty, how- 
ever bravely one may seek to neutralize it. 
Only by toning it down with a gravel space from 
eight to twelve inches wide on either side is it 
possible to qualify its glaring, garish, utilitarian 
unpleasantness sufficiently to make it anything 
but an offense anywhere within private grounds. 
And even with this modification it should never 
be used except for a main entrance, which is al- 
ways conceded to be semipublic in its character. 

The material jpar excellence for interior walks 
is brick, laid on a bed of sand, this on a bed of 
cinders. The old-time natural flagstones are 
next in choice to the bricks, while gravel, prop- 
erly laid, always makes a walk little inferior to 
any. This latter must be carefully railed in, 
however, as old garden beds were railed, to pre- 
vent its scattering into the turf along its mar- 
gins; or else the turf must stand well above it. 
The latter is a more pleasing measure to insure 
the confinement of the gravel, perhaps, and 
quite as effective if the walk itself is well 
crowned and good drainage at either side is 
provided. 

Across and through the garden, especially if 



WALKS, PATHS, ENTRANCES 79 

it be small, there is nothing so pleasing to the 
eye and so generally a finish and ornament to 
the design as walks of close-eut turf. That they 
are wet after rain there is no denying; but so 
too are walks of other kinds, and most other 
things as well. The morning dew leaves them 
reluctantly, some object, which must be granted. 
But to my mind neither of these complaints — 
nor both of them together — voices a sufficient 
reason for not using them. However, where 
they seem to, stepping stones of equal size and 
regular form may be sunk into the turf regularly 
and the effect practically unimpaired. Indeed 
the stones themselves are charming, bedded in 
the green, and may prove a real acquisition. 
They should be regular where definite and regu- 
lar lines prevail, only gardens of marked infor- 
mality admitting the flat stones of all sorts of 
shapes and sizes. 

The arrangement and the form of walks and 
paths are of course of the greatest consequence 
in the garden design, from every point of view. 
Naturally prominent because of what they are, 
and bound to mark divisions, they should al- 
ways follow leading lines; but note, please, that 
this does not mean that leading lines should in- 
variably be followed by a walk or path. Indeed 
it is better to err on the side of restraint in the 



80 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

number of walks rather than to introduce too 
many. But this is one of those nice Httle mat- 
ters that will almost settle itself, if allowed to 
do so without forcing. 

For a walk or a path would never exist if 
there were not, earlier than it, two objects from 
one of which it was desired to pass to the other. 
"Where does this lead?" is the instant query- 
whenever and wherever a path meets the ram- 
bler; which means really what does it lead to, 
what lies at the end.^ Or in other words, why is 
this path? Here if you please, is the whole thing 
in a nutshell; and we realize at once that there 
must never be a path or walk in the garden that 
has no reason — no answer to that why and to 
that what. It may or it may not go straight 
to its objective point — its course will be deter- 
mined by circumstances — but it must have the 
objective; and it will work always toward it. 

This brings us to a phase of walk layout that 
has always been to me one of the most interest- 
ing — a phase which I do not find often recog- 
nized, even by those who have studied the 
matter. I can give it no better name than the 
instinctive direction — and this will need ex- 
plaining I think. It is just what the name sig- 
nifies; given, for example, an object in one place 
to be approached from a point at any distance 



WALKS, PATHS, ENTRANCES 81 

from it, every creature making the trip will 
choose, without stopping to think, a certain 
course — and all will choose practically the same 
course. Naturally we should expect this to be 
the most direct, all creatures being constituted 
similarly in that they are somewhat averse to 
unnecessary effort; hence a perfectly straight 
line between the two places. Actually, how- 
ever, it almost never happens that a path fol- 
lows a perfectly straight line — for which there 
must be a reason. 

Of course there is; and equally of course — 
when one stops to think — it is a reason that has 
its basis in that natural indolence just noted, 
common to man and beast. For the straight 
line is not usually the easiest way; and it is the 
easiest way that is followed, even though this 
must deviate from being the shortest for noth- 
ing more consequential than an ant hill or a rank 
tuft of grasses. The longer distance is invari- 
ably less objectionable than the effort to sur- 
mount even so small an obstacle; feet instinc- 
tively seek the level. 

This element must be permitted free rein in 
planning walks, even in formal garden design, 
if they are to provide really satisfying strolls — 
and this is of course the ultimate purpose for 
which such walks should always be designed. 



82 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

Not that tlioy may take tlieir own course un- 
giiided, wherever tliey may list, by any means, 
but for then- guidance tlie instinctive direction 
should be kept in mind, and the conditions 
which determine it should be provided, where 
they will guide along the line predetermined by 
the designer. Generally spealdng, walks may 
be put wherever they are desired: then, wher- 
ever this may be and whatever their direction, 
they and their environment must be so con- 
trived as to make that direction .<!ccm instinctive. 

riantmg is usually enough to provide all the 
guide to direction which even the most tortuous 
path may need; and of course large garden 
beds, devoted to vegetables and flowers, them- 
selves offer obstacles around which clean turns 
must be made in the regularly laid out garden. 

Walks that are purely utilitarian need not be 
so painstakingly worked out, for the utilitarian 
walk provides its own reason and direction, and 
that is all there is to it. "Well proportioned and 
of suitable material they certainly should be, 
though: and planted and ornamented they as 
certainly may be. But on all small grounds 
then direction should never be interfered with, 
for such interference wastes precious space. 

Take for instance the service ways in the 
four plans given; they do not use up an inch 



WALKS, PATHS, ENTRANCES 83 

unnecessarily, but go direct to the object at 
which they are aimed. Moreover, they do not 
give access to the grounds generally, any more 
than the street does; and the scheme makes 
them almost unseen — certainly unrealized — 
from either the house or the garden. 

Where the space between the house and street 
is kept in lawn, it is an advantage usually to 
carry the front entrance walk also in at the side 
— for lawn space should be undivided wherever 
possible. But where this cannot very well be 
done, where it will sacrifice convenience and 
directness and the point of instinctive entrance 
from the street, this walk may be made a part 
of the general design, as in Plate I, page 30: 
thus its position is vindicated. 

This point of entrance from the street, by the 
way, is another of those subtle things which in- 
stinct must govern — actual instinct in this case 
and not artificially directed instinct, as in the 
case of the walk. For no trick will serve to fix 
this point; it fixes itself, definitely and obsti- 
nately. The direction from which a place is 
approached has more to do with it perhaps than 
anything else, but the position of the house 
entrance complements this; so really it takes 
the two in combination to work the matter out. 
Again it is the impulse to save steps — the lazy 



84 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

human nature in us — tliat Is at tlie bottom of 
the thing. Here we must let this impulse do its 
work without interference; and there is no way of 
doing this except to experiment, on the ground. 

Given the house location, try approaching its 
entrance — its porch steps, if it is reached by 
porch steps — from the sidewalk, from both di- 
rections. Try it a great many times, until the 
turn is instinctive, and not thought about ; get 
others to try without their knowing it, and note 
the point where the majority leave the sidewalk. 
There may be two such pomts; m all likelihood 
there will be, if the two directions of approach 
are used — in which event a spot midway be- 
tween them will probably be the right place for 
the gate and the start of the entrance walk. 
Yet this may not be it after all, possibly, for the 
point indicated by those coming from the direc- 
tion whence approach will most commonly be 
made, as from trolley or station, may be more 
true to the situation. Or if not this exact spot, 
one nearer to it than to the other, rather than 
midway between. 

If for example the customary approach to the 
place in Plate I. page tiO, is from the left, then 
no excuse that could possibly be invented would 
serve to justify an entrance wiUk where that 
plan shows it. Nearer to the left boundiiry than 



WALKS, PATHS, ENTRANCES 85 

to the riglit it would have to be, unless it solved 
the difficulty as in Plate II, page 34. 

Here, then, is an influence from outside the 
garden or grounds that must always be reck- 
oned with in planning at least the main en- 
trance walk. For of course its curves, if it have 
them, and its general dhection will be deter- 
mined by its point of departure from the side- 
walk. The formula of the general rule, so far 
as a general rule may be formulated, therefore 
is: iievei' pass the house entrance to reach the 
entrance to the grounds. Supplement this by 
a rule to go as directly as possible from gate 
to front door, especially on small grounds. 

Garden entrances themselves, or gates, have 
even greater possibilities as regards first impres- 
sions than walks. Indeed they may very nearly 
make or mar a place, as far as its street aspect is 
concerned, for they have a capacity for express- 
ing very accurately the qualities which lie be- 
yond them; curiously enough, they seldom err. 
I have never found an inhospitable gateway 
guarding a generous, warm-blooded man's door- 
way; neither have I ever failed to find the sort 
of person I have learned to look for beyond the 
arrogant, the mean, the splurging, or the silly 
entriince. So let us look well to our home-por- 
tals; they are all-revealing. 



86 COIME INTO THE GAEDEN 

But first of all let us make sure that we have 
them. No yawning intermissions in fence or 
hedge, with nothing to close them, will do; nei- 
ther will fine gateposts and gate, with no wall or 
hedge through which they admit. Either de- 
mands the other; and the garden demands both. 
Each must be in scale with the other, too — and 
with the house and the place generally as well, 
conforming to its delicate balance quite as nicely 
as the walks. 

The adjustment of scale in building material, 
whatever is being constructed, is so largely a 
matter of feeling, however — of an extra sense — 
that I hesitate to offer advice concerning it. If 
one does not know, through this sixth sense, that 
an iron fence does not belong around a plot oc- 
cupied by a deep-eaved, shingled cottage; that 
wire fencing is out of scale with buildings of 
masonry; or that a hedge is a weak retainer 
for large grounds and stone buildings, while a 
dressed^stone wall overshadov/s a small place 
and takes interest from wooden buildings, there 
is little to be gained by telling him. For in 
some other direction he will turn aside and do 
the wrong thing, it being impossible to foresee 
all the unfortunate combinations which may 
arise — or to foresee instances when the combi- 
nation becomes intolerable that would, under 



WALKS, PATHS, ENTRANCES 87 

other circumstances, be permissible. Apply tlie 
test of common sense and reason, however, and 
rely upon its guidance, if the sense of propor- 
tion is lacking. It will keep you within fair lim- 
its either way. 

Similarly common sense will prevent the 
building of an airy lattice arch between stone 
posts, or the erection of clumsy monstrosities of 
birch or beech saplings, laboriously put together 
but never solid, anywhere but in the wilderness; 
even there they are not practical. Arched 
gateways, rightly conceived and executed, are 
charming, without a doubt, but the entire place 
must be considered and its character must de- 
termine whether such an entrance will add to 
or detract from the ensemble. With the simple 
cottage type of dwelling, a vine or rose covered 
arch entrance is a delightful and appropriate 
feature, but with a formal house such a gateway 
is too ingenuous and childish to be appropriate. 

The stifler arch of living green, either privet 
or hemlock, rising from an inclosing hedge of 
the same, is better suited to this type, with a 
trim paneled gate swinging from simple posts 
beneath it. But for the place that is in no 
sense quaint there is probably greater dignity 
and appropriateness in the uncovered gateway 
than in any sort of arched opening. It is the 



88 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

small and intimate garden that needs this more 
distinctive setting apart, especially. 

It is with walks and gateways as with so 
many other phases of constructive garden work, 
of making and adorning; the one great obstacle 
to our accomplishing the best results always is 
the tendency to minimize the value of each 
seeming small feature. Once rid of the idea 
that anything at all does not matter, the road 
to progress becomes an open highway along 
which we are bound to move, if we resolutely 
refuse to be beguiled from it this way or that by 
the trifling, the unreasonable, and the bizarre. 
These are the pitfalls of the unwary and un- 
discerning. 



"Tyme passeth and speaketh not, 
Deth Cometh and warneth not; 
Amende today and slack not, 
Tomorrow thyself cannot." 

— Old Sundial Motto. 

CHAPTER VII 

Garden Accessories and Ornaments 

WE have seen that the walks in and around 
a garden must have an objective point, 
must lead to something; and obviously that 
something must be a distinctive feature, strik- 
ing a sharp note in the design and focusing the 
attention positively. This it is not possible for 
vegetation alone to do; no specimen of tree, 
shrub, or flower, however superior it may be as 
a specimen, is distinct enough from all the rest, 
in just the right way, to provide the needed 
positive element. Hence garden accessories in 
all their variations — the casinos, gazebos, ar- 
bors, statues, fountains, columns, or whatever 
they may be, of use or ornament. 

In this briefly outlined purpose of these gar- 
den attributes lies the guide to their positions. 
It is at once plain that no reason exists for put- 

89 



90 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

ting an urn, a statue, or anything else in the 
midst of open lawn. No argument in the world 
can justify such a position for any kind of ob- 
ject, any more than it can justify putting a sim- 
ilar object in the midst of a drawing-room floor. 
Things of this nature are to adorn, not to mon- 
opolize. True, a sculpture of merit deserves a 
setting wherein all its beauties may be fittingly 
enjoyed; but such a work demands its own 
gallery or alcove, whether it be outdoors or in, 
and only when an area sufficient to provide 
this is available should an image or group of 
such importance be used. For then the object 
itself, not the garden, is the feature; the latter, 
or that portion of it immediately about a great 
work of art, is secondary — an effect obviously 
to be avoided, where space is limited. 

Let it not be understood that I am arguing 
against merit, however, in garden statuary or 
ornament, for of merit there can never be too 
much anywhere — certainly" not in the garden. 
It is only the too ambitious conception that 
should be barred from the garden which it will 
overtop and render insignificant. Neither in 
actual size nor in the idea expressed may orna- 
ment ever assume greater proportions than the 
thing it ornaments. Be sure that it has done 
this, however, whenever it conveys the stronger 



GARDEN ACCESSORIES 91 

impression. If any garden accessory sends you 
away with the thought "So-and-so has a fine 
statue — or pool or garden house — in his gar- 
den," instead of, "So-and-so's garden is attrac- 
tive with that statue — or pool or garden house 
— where it is," be sure that the object in ques- 
tion is either ill chosen or ill placed. 

But further than now and then an arbor or 
summer house it seems difficult for us to pro- 
gress, in all except the great gardens designed 
and executed professionally — and wearing an air 
too often of professionalism. And of course an 
arbor or a summer house is something of an 
achievement, in limited space; so more often 
than not we do without even these. Perhaps it 
is just as well that we do until we have learned 
to use them, for certainly they are senseless 
creations unless they are used. So, for that 
matter, is a garden, too; the remedy lies not in 
foregoing to make a garden, however, but in 
learning to use it. 

The great American front-porch habit is 
largely responsible for our neglect of the real 
outdoors, I believe, but a certain spirit of snatch- 
ing at our idling rather than taking it deliber- 
ately may be at the bottom of this. And then, 
of course, our outdoor retreats have never been 
made with the intention cf actually using them, 



92 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

hence they do not invite to occupancy — to 
breakfast on pleasant mornings and tea on sum- 
mery afternoons, to steamer chair naps or a hot- 
day forty winks on a cool swinging rush couch. 
Magazines and books do not find their way to 
the uncomfortable-looking table tops — and in 
short there is no reason for idling or resting 
because there is nothing really to idle with or 
actually to rest on. All these things are on the 
front porch — or indoors, out of wind and 
weather. And because there is no such ren- 
dezvous in the garden or at the end of the 
garden walk, the garden itself lies alone in sun- 
light and in moonlight, under the dew and 
under the pale mists and the sweet, cool rain 
— and not one thousandth part of what a gar- 
den really is ever conies home to one of us. 

Casinos and summer houses let us have, there- 
fore, by all means; but of the pergola, beware! 
For pergolas, as they are so often seen and made, 
are just another instance of our tendency indis- 
criminately to seize upon and use — and abuse 
— a novelty. The pergola in itself is not ob- 
jectionable, but ignorant use has made it so, 
and worse — made it ridiculous. \Miich is al- 
ways an unfortunate state for even the most ad- 
mirable thing to reach. 

Properly speaking the architectiu-al pergola or 




Studiously avoiding the conventional this garden appro- 
priatelj' entertains the unconventional thatched shelter that 
would not be in harmony with less casual surroundings 



GARDEN ACCESSORIES 93 

vine arbor is a transition from the house, out 
into the pergola or vine arbor that is not archi- 
tectural, or out into less architectural regions 
generally. Pergola, be it noted, means nothing 
more nor less than "vine arbor"; it is our own 
false conception of the term that applies it only 
to the timber and heavy column structure which 
has found its detached way into gardens and 
succeeded generally in getting where it does not 
belong. Away out of doors and apart from 
dwellings there should be no architectural per- 
golas; here genuinely roofed structures are in 
order, or else the simplest arbors. Only at- 
tached to the dwelling, not merely against it 
but leading from it, may architectural pergolas 
be properly introduced. 

Many gardens or garden sites which are too 
small to admit a garden house or casino suffi- 
ciently apart from the dwelling to be worth 
while may yet afford space for this proper use 
of the pergola. Where this is too ambitious for 
the type of house and the grounds generally, 
however, a seat under a tree is always possible 
— or under a bower of vines — with an outdoor 
table to keep it company. This much at least 
should never be omitted from any garden — and 
may be repeated as often, within the bounds of 
reason, as space admits or fancy dictates, to 



94 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

provide the greatest amount of encouragement 
possible to the cultivation of the out-of-doors 
habit — and the greatest amount of help in 
breaking up the front-porch habit. Seats in 
the form of a semicircle are especially agree- 
able for groups, or if these are beyond the pos- 
sibilities, in the form of a square open at the 
side. Either is good, for either brings the occu- 
pants somewhat face to face; thus they are con- 
ducive to use because they are conducive to 
conversation. 

Comfort and use should be consulted pri- 
marily in the construction of both arbors and 
seats. None of the narrow, rail-bottom, rail- 
back, unpleasant affairs so generally found in 
the latter should ever be given any position 
whatsoever. Firm balance, a smooth seat, and 
an easy, smooth reclining surface for a back are 
essential — and all three are perfectly simple to 
attain without sacrificing the picturesque in the 
least. 

"With the loitering places and the living spots 
of the outdoors provided, lesser accessories make 
their claim. Named in the order of their interest 
I consider them to be: first, the bird bath, either 
a pool or elevated basin or a very simple foun- 
tain, if circumstances permit its being kept in 
play; second, the sundial; third, the statue or 



GARDEN ACCESSORIES 95 

Herm; fourth, the column or, under conditions 
where it may be suitable, the stone lantern of 
Japanese extraction, or some similar object. 
Arches I have purposely omitted for reasons 
which will develop later; and bird houses find 
their positions in trees or atop of posts inciden- 
tally and not as special objects of consideration. 

If I could have nothing else in my own garden, 
I most certainly should have the bathing and 
drinking place for birds. And the tiniest garden 
imaginable need not be without it — this of 
course assuming that there are no cats to turn 
its delightful comedy into tragedy. Puss is an 
adorable creature; still she is a feline, and we 
have no right to lure songbirds into her zone. 
Where there is a doubt concerning this very im- 
portant point, therefore, the bath must be ele- 
vated and guarded by a wire or sheet-metal 
shield extending from beneath it, out around it 
at least two feet on every side, and inclined 
slightly up. This must of course have no outer 
supports up which a cat might climb, but should 
either be stiff enough to support itself or else 
mounted on a frame purposely made for it. And 
the bath should be placed in the open, with no 
possible vantage point near enough for a jump 
to be made clear of this shield, or from above. 

Where cats abound, the basin on the wall 



96 COINIE INTO THE GARDEN 

luwls i>roti\'tioii from abovo as woll as from 
bt^ow. but siuh [>rotection is easily i^ivon by a 
canopy similar to tho muiornoath sliioliL Both 
may bo drossotl with vinos if tho gronnd is kept 
opon below ami no eomnumioation botwoon it 
auil tho basin ostablishod. T'^nloss those condi- 
tions I'an all bo oompHod with, howovor, elimi- 
nate this feature altouether. It will be a verit- 
able ileath trap until the birds learn their peril 
and abamli^n it — and then its reason for being 
at all is of Oiun'se gone. 

JNlany kinils of reeeptaeles are offered or may 
be secm-Oii for the basin itself; and ingenuity 
and imagination will undoubtedly suggest others 
that no one has ever heard of. Any tiling from 
a soup plate to a marble font will servt^ — both 
of these have, I believe, although neither would 
be my choice. A shallow water space rather 
than a divp one should be provided; and one 
portion s^lionld be shallower than the rest, for 
the tiny fellows and the young birds. Stones 
tl\at art^ tlat and may be laid at an incline to 
form a gradual destvnt. duplicate the condi- 
tions of a brookside and please the birds; for 
often they con\e for a drink and a wade when 
they caimot stop for a dip. 

A wooden chopping bowl, painted stony gray 
inside and out. and sprinkUxl with sand while 



GARDEN ACCESSORIES 97 

still wet, was the inexpensive yet very effective 
provision made in one garden that I have known 
of. Such a water holder, mounted on a rough 
pile of stones and buried to its brim in vines, is 
as picturesque as a very much more elaborate 
pool, and is of course lighter and easier to 
handle than one of stone or cement. It may be 
affixed very easily to a single post, if an elevated 
position is preferable for it. It is a bath only 
for the most informal type of garden, however, 
a cottage garden in the true meaning of the 
word. Elsewhere something more distinctive 
may be needed. A simple cement basin comes 
nearer to the requirements of the average sub- 
urban grounds, without being in the least pre- 
tentious. One may be made by pouring the 
cement into a mold made of burlap, doubled 
and tacked into the top of a barrel. The dip of 
the cloth takes on a very graceful form, and its 
folds imprint melon-like ridges on the outside 
of the basin that vary its surface pleasantly. 

Before the cement hardens the inside should 
be worked out and hollowed and smoothed by 
hand; and when the cement has finally set — 
after an interval of about eight hours — the bar- 
rel should be turned on its side and the basin 
tipped out carefully, bottom side up. Then it 
must be thoroughly wet down with a sprinkling 



98 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

pot, to prevent the surface from drying faster 
than the inner part, thus overcoming the tend- 
ency to crack. Finally it must be mounted on 
a big stone bed, with small stones laid around 
as needed to keep it erect and solid. 

All basins of this simple nature, and even 
more elaborate marble or terra-cotta ones, are 
very easily and expeditiously filled by hand, 
cither with a hose or water carried to them in 
a pail. Daily replenishing is usually suflicient, 
though during dry weather a second supply is 
sometimes necessary. It is possible to brush 
the moss and slime from the stones and the in- 
side of the basin with a whisk broom often, 
though this is not necessary. Mosquitoes need 
not be apprehended, for the constant agitation 
of the water would prevent their breeding if 
the constant replenishing did not — but the lat- 
ter of course does. Only stagnant water is the 
.1 iiopJuics nursery . 

Next to the bird bath, with its animation 
and living interest, is the sundial — still, silent, 
mysterious, in its eternal union with Time, 
bringing its eloquent message in from eternal 
space. Indeed, when I stop to dwell on its 
awesome beauty and majesty, I almost feel that 
the dial should take precedence over all other 
garden features. Yet just because of this maj- 



GARDEN ACCESSORIES 99 

esty and a certain veneration which it com- 
mands, I hesitate to put it in first pUice — in 
other people's gardens. It should only go where 
it is wanted — and where it will not oppress; 
yet it can ill be spared anywhere. Hence, if a 
position is available in open and unobstructed 
sunlight I always hope that the gardener will 
be moved to set up in it this most ancient of 
timepieces. 

Bronze dials are of all the most permanent 
naturally; but a dial of cement well made is 
practically everlasting — and not beyond the 
possibilities of amateur construction, if one 
cares to take the trouble. The pedestal is im- 
portant and, from the aesthetic standpoint, 
should be given as much consideration as the 
dial itself, or more. For it of course looms up 
in the garden vistas prominently. Solidity 
is essential to it, and only a deep foundation 
will insure this, as freezing and thawing affect 
the ground to three feet or more below its 
surface. 

Of outdoor statuary and images there are a 
vast number too dreadful to contemplate! Chief 
among these are the cast-iron dogs and hunters 
and swan and deer, and all the multitude of 
monstrosities of this character that were scat- 
tered extravagantly a generation or so ago. 



100 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

guarding front doors and gracing (!) the midst 
of lawns. None is so benighted as to acquire 
these things now, assuredly; but altogether too 
many which have lasted over remain to afflict 
long-suffering humanity. Their complete dem- 
olition is the only solution of the aching prob- 
lems which they create, for they came into popu- 
lar favor in the black- walnut-and-hair-cloth era, 
along with the Italian villa, a period growing 
more famous — or infamous — for its execrable 
taste, as we come more and more fully to real- 
ize this. 

Most garden makers, however, are spared 
these ii'on zoological specimens, happily; so it 
is a question of selection only and not of de- 
struction first, when garden ornaments of a 
plastic nature are to be considered. Personal 
taste will naturally influence here, of course; 
but if it can be restrained from more than in- 
fluencing, if it can be held back and not allowed 
actually to guide or finally to determine, the 
results' will usually be happier. This is not be- 
cause individual taste in matters of art may 
not be of the very highest order, but because 
taste of even a high order may fail to take into 
consideration all the difference in circumstances 
and conditions which a garden environment 
involves. 



GARDEN ACCESSORIES 101 

First of all, for instance, it must be kept in 
mind that the garden statue will be fixed in its 
position through all the weather vagaries of the 
four seasons and during the garden barrenness 
of half the year. Any figure that approaches a 
representation of the altogether human, there- 
fore, if clothed or partially clothed, will not be 
pleasant to contemplate throughout the year, 
for the very good though perhaps childish reason 
that it will seem very cold and wet and suggest 
discomfort too keenly, in storm. Imagination 
makes us childish very often; and even repre- 
sentations of the gods of the ancients are not 
beyond thus impressing our human and com- 
fort-loving side — if they wear drapery or cloth- 
ing. Nudes, however, do not have this effect; 
and of course satyrs and nymphs and the great 
god Pan come under this general exception. 

And then abstract conceptions rather than 
incident should be chosen; and no better nor 
more appropriate subjects can be found than 
mythology offers. Best of all to my mind, for 
general use, are Hermse — those graceful swelling 
pillars surmounted by heads of varying charac- 
ter, all representing the god Hermes originally, 
but now frequently the likeness of satyr or faun 
or nymph or just a fanciful head — that present 
lines so pleasing when thrown into clear relief 



102 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

against a wall or background of live green. 
The appropriate symbolism, too, of a Herm in 
the garden, especially at the intersection of 
walks at a turn, makes it an interesting as well 
as a picturesque attribute. 

The situations where a shaft or column, sur- 
mounted by a classic capital perhaps or some 
device of interest and beauty, may be placed to 
advantage are very much less common than 
those which will admit the Herm, for such a 
feature is not suitable where a generally infor- 
mal or careless scheme has been adopted. The 
straight, clear lines of a column are distinctly 
architectural and necessarily convey an impres- 
sion of formality and dignity which must react 
against the simple cottage type of garden to 
the hitter's disadvantage, and which must also 
subject the architecture of the house to critical 
and very possible crushing comparison. The 
column is indeed a very finished and elegant 
object and must have finished surroundings. 
Ordinarily I should advise against using it in a 
small garden, although it is not a question of 
size at all. The simplest garden design will 
admit it, and the smallest space, if it is all de- 
cidedly formal and accompanied by a house of 
refined motif and real architectural merit. 

Reverting finally to the arch — which has been 



GARDEN ACCESSORIES 103 

left to the last because, although it is in its pur- 
pose an ornament, it is at the same time a struc- 
tural feature — there is just one positive thing to 
be said with regard to its position. An arch 
should always be at a point of transition from 
one part or phase of the garden to another — 
and never anywhere else. In other words, re- 
gard it as a door, and imagine that it leads 
through a wall; then you will have a true idea 
of the difference which should be apparent, be- 
tween the parts which it connects. 

This gives it a raison d'etre, and it at once 
acquires the character and importance which 
should distinguish it, however simple and crude 
the materials of which it is constructed. Let 
it mark an end and a beginning always; never 
put it midway of a path or in the garden's cen- 
ter. Even though it leads through no wall 
which obscures that which lies beyond, this 
definite dividing function which is peculiarly 
its own, this ceremonial leaving and entering 
which it expresses, must never be taken away 
from it. Subject to this one limitation and 
necessity, it may be used with excellent effect at 
almost any portion of the grounds or garden. 



" God tlic first garden made, and the first city Cain." 

— Cowley. 

CHArXER VIII 

The Pl-\ce That is Started 

THERE are of course a vast niiiiiber of gar- 
dens waiting to be made that cannot be 
taken in hand from the bare ground up — and 
here we confront special conditions and special 
problems quite unlike those which are a part 
of garden makmg where it has a more ideal 
start. They are enough like each other, how- 
ever, to make a general survey of them possible; 
and general suggestions concerning them may 
be more -helpful perhaps than an attempt at 
detailed directions for their treatment might be. 
The one thing is to approach the problem ex- 
pectantly and confidently. 

The process of building a place up is of course 
the same, whatever the conditions, and succes- 
sive steps follow each other whether the start 



PLACE THAT IS STARTED 105 

is made in the midst of a half-completed task 
or at the beginning of the work. So the first 
thing to be done with the place already par- 
tially established is to determine just where a 
start may be made — in other words, just which 
steps have been irrevocably taken, and how 
many may be retraced, if it seems wise to re- 
trace, in order to reach the one farthest back 
from which to inaugurate the work. Assuredly 
the plan and the position of the house are fixed, 
beyond all possibility of change, which elimi- 
nates the first step of all. The dwelling's ex- 
posure is thus settled and the convenient dis- 
position of the ground about it, according to 
the location of the doors and windows, its ser- 
vice, and its social portion has probably been 
made, or accepted as it has made itself. 

The garden design, however, which is hardly 
a design at all, is not unalterable; neither are 
the grades; nor as a matter of fact are any of 
the other attributes or features which follow in 
orderly sequence, from the initial step of plan- 
ning and choosing the position of the house. 
Walks may be changed and arbors and all the 
things of this sort; plants may be moved, even 
very large ones, if the work is carefully and 
properly done. Really the only step which is 
not retraceable then is the very first, unless 



101? COME INTO THE G.VRDEN 

porchaiico a largo tree has grown up in the 
wrong placo. But tJiis we w'ill come to hiter. 

So all the way back to that first step we may 
go, and thus make a beginning with the second 
— tlie garden design. Of course this will be 
greatly influenced by the work already done, 
but after all it is not of necessity absolutely 
detennined in all its parts by this. And its 
possibilities, though perhaps not as great as 
tliey might have been with a. different start, are 
not by any means even hinted at in the usual 
negligent acceptance of it as it stands. With a 
phm of the ground and the house in its place on 
the gromid, therefore, l^efore us. let us begin the 
work just as we would go on from this point if 
it had been possible to start at the beginning. 

The first^thing in design is the border, quite 
as truly now as in the other instances: so the 
border allowance is the lirst thing to be laid off 
on the plan. How much this shall be depends 
on the border that is to be used, of course, but 
an allowance of two feet all around will cover 
wall and fruits, hedge, fence and fruits, or fence 
and tiower border; this may, therefore, be made 
and the kind of an inclosure decided upon later. 
Then to the actual design — which is to be uni- 
fied, you will recall, and held together first of 
all bv ijiving it an axis from which to i::row. 



PLACE THAT IS STARTED 107 

The house plan and the disposal of entrances 
and windows and all similar features will fix this, 
or will indicate its logical position. But the out- 
doors must be taken into consideration, too, and 
the most advantageous division of the ground 
insured. An axis should also be so located that 
it naturally invites the eye to follow its direc- 
tion without obstructions to divert it. So here 
again I must ask you to refer to a diagram (page 
108), made in this instance from a house as builL 
on its plot — which was afterwards designed — in 
a typical suburban development. The house is 
34 by 40 feet, exclusive of porches, and its front 
porch line is 25 feet back from the sidewalk. It 
is 4 feet from its boundary on the west, which 
leaves 12 feet at the other side, the lot being 50 
by 100. 

The entrance to the front in the original ar- 
rangement passed straight from the sidewalk 
to front steps. The old position of these is in- 
dicated by dotted lines in the diagram — for al- 
most the first thing which required doing was 
their shifting. In their original position they 
opened the porch up too freely to the street, as 
well as necessitated an entrance walk in the 
midst of the small space before the house. Both 
of these were bad features, hence the change. 

The whole place at best is cramped, and 




lOS 



V. Planting Plan. 

1. Wall fruit trees, Verrier form. 

2. Lattice with arched opening at X. 

3. Wall fruit trees, palmetto form. 

4. Flowers. 

4b. Shade-enduring flowers. 

5. Roses. 

6. Sundial. 

7. Steps do\ATi, arches over; on these a Dorothy Perkins rose 

and Clematis. 

8. Terra cotta bird bath, 10 inches in diameter. 

9. Turf edging to all flower spaces. 

10. Sweetbriar rose; rosa ruhiginosa, Penzance hybrid. 

11. Climbing honeysuckle; lonicera Halleana. 

12. Boston ivy; ampelopsis Veitchii. 

13. Grapes. 

109 



110 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

the house, though fairly pleasant, is much 
broken up, with absolutely no axial points. Of 
course the ground outside it is also broken up 
and disjointed ; this would follow naturally, and 
indeed is the case in almost all places of this 
kind. The two things most imperative, there- 
fore, if a garden of any real distinction is to 
be expected, are something to give a sense of 
greater space, and an axis that will pull every- 
thing together — front and rear and side spaces, 
and house and garden, too. Such a line and 
only such a line will unify all these totally unlike 
and unrelated parts. 

The front-to-back axis of the wider space at 
the side is the choice, although it cannot truth- 
fully be called a "choice" as a matter of fact, 
for it is really the only line from which any be- 
ginning can be made. As soon as it is drawn it 
vindicates its insistence, however, by instantly 
revealing the key to the spaciousness which is 
so essential. The entrance falls naturally on it 
in the front ; and then the far distance at its ex- 
treme other end immediately suggests a place 
for something which shall attract the eye the 
moment the entrance is reached, and distract 
it from the smallncss of all the rest. As an 
actual fact the sundial as shown is more 
than 85 feet from the gateway where it is first 



PLACE THAT IS STARTED 111 

seen — a very creditable little vista for a small 
garden. 

The house does not connect direct with this 
long axis, but it is sufficiently united with the 
garden generally through the lines of the broad 
walk leading from this to its steps; also by the 
locating of the bird bath at the point of inter- 
section of the sitting-room axis with the trans- 
verse axis of the dooryard. A lattice extending 
across to the boundary at the rear and spanning 
the main walk with an arch, further draws 
house and garden together. 

The entire garden is inclosed with a plastered 
wall made on a wood and galvanized wire lath 
framework, supported between brick piers. 
This is level on top and runs from a height of 
six feet in front to about eight in the rear, owing 
to the pitch of the land. It starts at the front 
corner of the house rather than on the boundary 
line, thus allowing space for the service entrance 
to pass along between the house and the bound- 
ary. This brings the service gate admitting 
to the garden at the rear of the house, where the 
wall completes its course at the house corner 
again and ends. 

Here is the design in all its salient features, 
simple, restful, unusual, and yet not in the least 
startling. The most radical thing about it is the 



112 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

wall — and this will seem radical only for a little 
while, for its economic service as well as its very 
great charm will become apparent to all who see it. 

Grades engage attention third on the list, so 
the grading is the next thing to be looked into 
here. Of course the dip of the land toward the 
rear was taken neither account nor advantage 
of, in the original smoothing do"«Ti. It fell 
awaj^ in an even slope from about the front 
line of the house, with a lawn that was just 
like any lawn anywhere. Earth enough to grade 
to a level as far as the rear of the house where 
the lattice crosses was obtained from the back 
yard, on the railroad plan of cut and fill, the 
cut just making the fill. This secured the drop 
at the lattice which adds greatly to the interest 
and beauty of the long vista to the sundial 
standing on the lower level. 

The first walks were granolithic; the present 
walks are gravel with brick edging. The gate 
is high and solid paneled except for a small 
latticed space suggestive of the old-time wicket, 
on a level with the eyes; its material is cypress 
and it is stained to match the cypress shingles 
of the upper part of the house. The lower 
story of this, by the way, is plastered, and the 
foundation is of brick; hence the plastered gar- 
den wall on brick piers. 



PLACE THAT IS STARTED 113 

No arbor or summer house seemed desirable 
here, as every bit of sunny space was wanted 
for practical use. A seat by the sundial may 
furnish a resting spot without shading any of 
the precious fruit space along the northeast 
wall as an arbor would have done. Yet a tiny 
gazebo on this wall at the end of the walk would 
not use up much space nor sunlight if one very 
much wished to have it. Personally I am al- 
ways in favor of some out-in-the-garden shelter, 
but for those who do not feel that such a fea- 
ture is absolutely essential to their happiness, It 
is perhaps as well to omit It on a small place — 
for it is likely not to be used, where there is no 
enthusiasm for It. 

The planting of this place Is of the highest 
economic efficiency, as the key shows. And It 
may be truthfully said that at least fifty per 
cent, of this efficiency is made possible by the 
wall whereon the fruits are growing. Every 
inch of this which is open toward the south 
is covered with these, and the rear wall too, 
which is reached only by the overhead and 
western sun, has been planted experimentally. 
No special drying yard or space for clothes 
is necessary, as a clothes reel is used which fits 
into a socket that Is buried in a secondary 
path of the rear garden. This folds up and puts 




114 



VI. Planting Plan. 

The suggested treatment of a neighboring plot the same 
size with a house of altogether different character is given, 
for comparison. The owner's desire in this instance is not 
so fixed upon the growth of useful things, owing to his ab- 
sence during a large part of the summer. The house is cen- 
tered on the plot, consequently there is no need for estab- 
lishing an axis. Consequently, too, the design is bound to 
be symmetrical; hence symmetry is taken for its leading 
note, and a still more perfect balance than already exists in 
it is obtained by introducing the little Dutch garden in the 
angle of upright and L at the rear. From this a walk, cor- 
responding to the service walk opposite, leads to the ter- 
race in front. A hedge six feet high encloses the entire 
place, growing through and concealing a strong and im- 
penetrable fence of galvanized wire. This hedge is carried 
up and over the main gateway in a clipped arch, and ex- 
tends m from this to form a low border along the walk to 
the foot of the steps. Quite definitely the service yard is 
set apart and screened with arborvitae, faced with a win- 
ter slu-ubbery border; and a bronze piping Pan stands at 
the rear on the axis of the living room, Dutch garden and 
lawn. 

1. Privet hedge, Ligustrum Amwense. 

2. Flowers. 

3. Dwarf fruit trees. 

4. Faun. 



115 



110 CX^rE INTO THE GARDEN 

away in the launJry botwoon tinios. So the 
oiitiuo space at the rear of the house is an in- 
tensively eiiUivated vegetabU^ garden — and I 
shoiiUi not be surprised to see the siniihir area 
in front given over to the daintier vegetables 
some of these days, with flowers suitably orna- 
menting its borders! 

Not a tree has been introduced save the wall 
fruits, nor are there any shrubs. In fact the 
limitations of this particular place and of this 
kind of place have been fully recognized and 
made to furnish its keynote. Yet it is richer 
by an inestimable degree in appearance, and in 
fact, than dozens of garden plots its size; and 
the interest and entertainment and pleasant 
delight within its stout walls are as much as 
one might find on many places containing acres. 
Flowers border the long, straight walk its en- 
tire length, yellow being the dominant color 
opposite the house to brighten the shade al- 
ways resting there. Currant and gooseberry 
bushes floiu'ish between this flower border and 
the house, from the bay of the hall back to the 
lattice. On the south side of the lattice, ex- 
posed to the sun, is a grape vine nearest the 
house, but next the wall there is a climbing 
rose which covers the arch and waves greeting 
to the outer world, where it peers above. A 




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PLACE THAT IS STARTED 117 

honeysuckle grows in the shadier corner that 
faces the street, and ivy is slowly climbing the 
shady portion of the wall here and there. Three 
more grape vines spread themselves, one on a 
trellis against the rear porch, the other two on 
another against the rear of the house; and 
honeysuckle and sweetbrier roses climb the 
porch columns in front. 

Between these two places, chosen as illustra- 
tions, there are of course all manner of things 
possible, even when a place has been started — 
providing the conventional lack of garden is ab- 
solutely ignored and all remembrance of it wiped 
off the slate. It is this which most seriously 
hampers the development of all small gardens. 
Until we rid ourselves of it, therefore, we need 
not expect to do more than has been done — 
we need not indeed expect to have gardens 
at all, but only grounds. 



'Frvnn you bluo hoavon abovo us bout. 

The gardoutn- Ailaui aiul his wife. 
Suiilo at the ohiiuis ot* long dosoout." 
— Thf' Lady Clara Vere df- Vcrc — Tunnyson. 



CIUrTKR IX 
Pl.\nting and Maintenance 

Planting 

4 LTUOi'GU anyone may bnry the root end of 
-t\ a slirnb or treo or any kind of voi^'otable 
nndor a mass of earth and do it thoroui^hly and 
eompletely, the operation of restoring to its na- 
tive element vegetation wliicli has been np- 
rooted is not by any means successfully accom- 
plished 'Nvith such interment. Hoots nuist not 
only be covered — tliey must actually be re- 
stored, as far as possible, to just the positions 
^vhieh tliey originally occupied: to the same 
depth in the soil and to the same perfect con- 
tact with it. 

Perhaps it would express the trutli more viv- 
idly if I were to say rootlets instead of roots, for 
it is the rootlets tliat are of the greatest im- 
118 



riANTINC; AND MAINTKNANCE 119 

|)<)iiiMiC(\ T-.ikv cure of lliosr and llic roots will 
lake care of lluMiisclvcs — almost. For every 
tiny, hair-like rool filament is a hinigry little 
montli, and the grealesl tree is as dependent 
upon these as the humblest little annual, its 
massive woody roots being actually no more 
than anchors. 

Contact wilh the food is the first mechanical 
essential to feeding, in either (he vegetable or 
animal kingdom. The food of plants is taken 
in solution from the earth; in other words it is 
a li(piid diet strictly, and it is absorbed through 
the delicate walls of these tiny, soft, tender 
little feeding rootlets, then passes up along the 
canat (which runs through even the tiniest) 
into the larger rootlets whence these spring, 
and so on, up and up until the main "trunk 
line" is reached; and then still up into branch 
and twig and leaf, every part receiving due pro- 
port ion of its particular requirement as the 
transit is made. Finally, through the leaves, 
the water, strained of its organic and mineral 
content, is transi)ired and returns to the at- 
mosi)liere. In the course of a single summer 
day an ordinary tree will yield fifty gallons of 
water— perhaps much more — under the insis- 
tent heat of the sun. And vegetation generally 
is calculated as transpiring from /or/?/ to one hiin- 



120 COINIE INTO TIllC GARDEN 

drcd (jallons of water to every pound of dry 
growth. 

All plants as they grow, establish the eqiiilib- 
riiini between their tops and their roots whieh 
this astonishing faet shows to be so important, 
so that the latter draw up just the right amount 
of water to supply what the former transpire. 
And this equilibrium mui^i be itiaintaiiicd — whieh 
brings us to the first consideration incident to 
the work of planting, namely, the cutting back 
of tops to meet the root loss that is always un- 
avoidable. It is not always easy to judge just 
what the latter has been, when stock is received 
from a nursery; yet careful examination of the 
roots will usually make it fairly clear — and a 
little more vigorous pruning at the top than 
seems absolutely necessary is always wise. 

For instance, if one-quarter of a root system 
has been injured, one-third of the top should 
be sacrificed rather than one-iifth; for branch 
and leaf will make haste to put forth and catch 
up with tlie roots that overbalance them, where- 
as an insuihcient root system, over-drained by 
too nuich top, cannot be made up so quickly 
and will cause the whole plant to languish and 
weaken, just as an underfed person or animal 
weakens, making it an especially susceptible 
subject for disease to attack. 



PLANl ING AND MAINTENANCE 121 

Cut away all (lama/?o(l roots in the first place, 
and trim all stumps smooth and clean of slivers 
and loose fibers, that there may be no place for 
fun^ais to lod^(; or decay to enter. Then cut 
away a little bit more, proportionately, at the 
top, taking care to preserve the character of 
the plant always, whether much or little is 
taken off. Branches cannot be snipped off here 
and there regardless of everything except get- 
ting rid of them, but selective pruning must re- 
duce the plant everywhere equally. Usually it 
is possible simply to cut all branches back the 
requisite amount, but in the case of trees which 
progress distinctly by means of a leader — as 
the Lombardy poplar and the maidenhair tree 
or Gingko — the leader should not be cut. If it 
is, the tree's character is destroyed, even though 
it makes tlu; noblest elTorts to overcome the 
itijury — for the ideal hmg, straight l)ole, unin- 
terrupted from earth to tip, is impossible to 
restore once it has been tampered with. 

Occasionally an entire branch will need to 
be removed, although nursery grown trees that 
have been well cared for will seldom show such 
superfluous growth. Where two branches rise 
from the trunk at the same point, one must al- 
ways come out — and sometimes this result of 
gross negligence is found, even in nursery stock, 



1^22 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

for there are many nurseries unfortunately 
where h\x methods prevail. Two such branches 
with their double weight and consequent strain 
weaken the tree as they grow to maturity and 
invite a split at that point as the years ad- 
vance. Remove the one whicli will least im- 
pair the tree's symmetry — and in removing it, 
cut away down level with the bark of the trunk, 
and leave no stump whatsoever. 

Plants that have been packed and shipped al- 
ways come out of their wrappings with roots 
very mucli compressed, naturally. Work them 
out carefully and into then- natural positions in 
so far as it is possible to do so, before under- 
taking to plant them. Immersing them in water 
will soften and so help to restore them, if they 
persist in their constrained positions, providing 
a broad enough vessel is available. A wash tub 
will serve usually. Let them dram after such 
a bath, however, until the rootlets shake freely 
apart, otherwise it may do more harm than good 
by interfering with the free sifting of earth in 
and around each. 

This is always to be the aim in planting — to 
surround every rootlet with earth, just as it was 
surrounded when it crowded its way through the 
soil where it first grew; to bring earth particles 
into close contact with it on everv side, that it 



PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE 123 

may feed freely and uninterruptedly. In order 
to do this there must not be a great amount of 
moisture in the soil when planting is done; for 
moist earth paeks in chunks rather than sifts, 
not only leaving rootlets hung in its midst but 
tearing many of them from the plant by reason 
of its weight. Therefore choose a dry time rath- 
er than a wet one for planting. 

Holes must be dug to the full size of the 
spread of the roots after these have assumed 
their normal position, and to six inches below 
the depth of the deepest of them. Remember 
that roots grow at their tips, out and down, just 
as branches grow out and up; see that these tips 
are turned down, therefore. I speak of this par- 
ticularly because there is always a tendency to 
shirk when it comes to making a hole the full 
depth required and full size all the way down; 
indeed I think I may say that I have never 
found a gardener, amateur or professional, who 
did not exhibit this tendency to a very marked 
degree. So I am perfectly certain the average 
beginner is not going to prove an exception — 
for he is pretty sure to be in a hurry and to want 
results, not work. It will not do to cheat, how- 
ever, nor to assure oneself that it cannot matter 
much. The depth at which roots have estab- 
lished themselves below the surface is the depth 



124 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

at which the right amount of air and of surface 
heat will reach them — and their restoration to 
this depth, particularly at their sensitive and 
growing tips, is absolutely essential. 

The extra depth of six inches to which the hole 
is excavated is to be filled in with a mound or 
pyramid shaped cushion of good soil and well 
rotted manure, if the latter is available. If not, 
the soil alone will do, well stirred and loosened 
so that the lowest rootlets may quickly and 
easily penetrate it. Make this mound of the 
right slope and form to conform to the down- 
ward and outward sweep of the roots ; then place 
the specimen upon it and jounce it up and 
down gently, that it may bed itself naturally 
upon the yielding earth cushion. Make sure 
now that the plant stands with the earth mark 
on its bole — or branches if it is a shrub — exactly 
level with the surface of the ground, and guard 
carefully against planting it either higher or 
lower than it stood originally. A straight board 
or stick -long enough to lie on the ground and 
span the hole, put across it close up against the 
plant, will show exactly where the surface is 
coming when the hole is filled. If this is not at 
the right point, lift the specimen out and add 
earth or take it out as circumstances require. 

Be careful — scrupulously careful — about all 



PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE 125 

these little things; they count. When just the 
right depth is secured and all the roots are ad- 
justed over the earth cushion around the en- 
tire pknt, with none turned under or up at the 
tips for lack of space to lie straight out, begin 
filling in with the light and richer top soil, 
throwing it into the pockets and crevices which 
will show around and within the root mass, 
and firming it down and in against the root- 
lets by hammering it gently with a roundheaded 
stick. An inverted broom handle is excellent 
for this. 

It is safe and right to do this packing down 
of the earth or tamping much more firmly than 
the beginner usually thinks proper, for even 
with the greatest care there will still be tiny 
interstices here and there where rootlets will go 
hungry. So do not be apprehensive of over- 
doing it, unless the soil is moist and heavy — 
that is, like putty or dough. Do not plant at 
all however when soil is in this condition; it 
takes an expert to do that, and even he runs 
chances of failure. 

But of course earth should not be beaten 
down into a state resembling cement, however 
dry it is. The idea is simply to overcome the 
looseness which follows its turning over and 
stirring about, and to settle it at once, instead 



1-20 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

of waiting for it to settle Itself, establisliing by 
so doing close contact all around the feeding 
roots. "VMiile this tamping and filling iii Is being 
done, the specimen should be continually jolted 
lightly up and down to induce further settling 
of the earth Into obscure pockets and under- 
neath and around roots that are beyond reach. 
Thus gradually It will sift into place, If the work 
is not hurried or slighted, and an almost com- 
plete restoration of the plant to Its original con- 
dition will be accomplished. 

As soon ac> roots are covered and the plant 
is fixed, the delicate part of the operation is 
done. The earth should continually be firmed, 
however, as it is thrown In, by treading it down, 
until only a saucer-like depression over the en- 
tire hole remains. Stop right here and fill this 
with water. It may take a pailful, perhaps 
less; more is hardly necessary, although it will 
do no harm. Pour it In around the edges, 
gently, so the earth will not be washed back 
or to one side, and let it have time to settle 
gradually. ^Mien it has all disappeared, fill in 
the remalnmg earth, not packing it, however, 
save with slaps of the shovel broadside. Leave 
at the last a half Inch sprinkling of loose earth 
on top as a dust mulch to retain moisture. 

This completes the actual planting; the sea- 



PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE 127 

son of the year will determine whether or not 
anything further must be done. If it is spring- 
time, this is enough, but if it is fall a mulch of 
straw or leaves eight inches deep or more must 
be made ready to cover the entire area dis- 
turbed as soon as frost enters the ground. This 
must be retained by branches or loose sticks 
laid over it, until frost finally leaves again, in 
the spring; and instead of watering the plant 
later in the summer, keep the natural moisture 
in the ground by tilling the entire space lightly. 
Planting may be done either in spring or fall, 
with but few exceptions. Cone-bearing ever- 
greens are not usually handled at either sea- 
son, however, August and early September be- 
ing the accepted time for moving these. The 
broad-leaved evergreens, such as rhododen- 
drons, are most successfully moved in the 
spring; and thin barked trees, such as the 
birch or beech, are likely to suffer when shifted 
at any other time. Personally I prefer fall for 
all other general planting, owing to the more 
settled weather conditions which prevail, and 
the even temperature and warmth of the soil 
at that season. In places where severe win- 
ters are the rule it is not advisable, however, 
neither should it ever be undertaken on land 
that is cold and wet. 



128 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

Evergreens, both cone-bearing and broad- 
leaved, must have a little space all to them- 
selves, for their treatment is very special and 
they are very risky things to handle out of the 
ground. Never buy them unless you are as- 
sured that they will be dug with a ball of earth 
clinging to their roots, which will be properly 
burlaped as soon as the specimen is lifted from 
the ground and carefully packed to assure its 
remaining in place in transit. Do not open this 
packing until the hole to receive the plant is 
dug to the proper depth and a little larger than 
the earth ball and is ready to receive it, with no 
manure uncovered, but with a sifting of fine 
earth over any that may have been used to pre- 
vent the roots from coming in contact with it. 

Then cut the stitches which hold the burlap, 
lift the plant into the hole still inclosed in it, 
and finally work it down gradually on all sides 
and under the earth ball, being careful to keep 
this intact if it is possible to do so. To this end, 
evergreens must never be shaken and jolted as 
deciduous plants are, but should be held still 
while the fine top soil is sifted around and 
tamped under and against the ball of earth 
about their roots. This tamping should be very 
firmly done indeed, underneath and then grad- 
ually up and around the sides. The burlap is 



PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE 129 

left in the hole and buried — for being vegetable 
matter it will ultimately disintegrate. 

Leave a depression just as in filling in about 
deciduous plants — in this instance it will be a 
ring, however, at the circumference of the earth 
ball, instead of a saucer — into which pour water 
gently that it may leach down and complete 
the welding of earth particles together. Finally, 
fill this depression and spread a mulch of pack- 
ing or of straw or litter over all the surface 
above the roots. This is to prevent scorching 
by the direct rays of the sun, as well as to con- 
serve all the moisture possible — for evergreens 
generally are planted in August, when the sun 
is hot. 

Transplanting 

Of course all planting is transplanting, in one 
sense; yet we ordinarily consider the speci- 
mens which are shipped to a place from a nur- 
sery as "planted" only, while local growth is 
regarded as "transplanted." Hence the oppor- 
tunity which this transplanting affords is my 
only one to say anything about the uprooting of 
a tree, shrub, or other specimen, although it is 
quite as essential an element of successful gar- 
dening to know how to unplant as it is to know 
how to plant. 



130 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

Patience is the greatest of virtues, and most 
virtuous of handmaidens in all gardening — but 
nowhere so necessary as here. Yet nowhere is 
she so likely to elude the gardener as when he 
stands, anxious and eager and baffled and per- 
spiring, before the feeble plant which he is bent 
on transferring to another spot, and which is 
equally bent, in its own inert plant way, on 
staying where it is. Clutching the earth fran- 
tically, but secretly, it refuses to be budged — 
and the struggle is one surely calculated to make 
or break character. The one hope of the toiler 
is to take time, thereby retaining patience — but 
even then it is a fierce trial more often than not. 
I am saying all this that you may be prepared — 
fully prepared — and hence may approach the 
task warily and with a chance of victory, moral 
as well as physical. For the man who has never 
tried to unplant an established growth, and who 
attacks the proposition unwarned and unsus- 
pecting, needs sympathy — and has mine. 

Begin at the tip of the roots; that is, begin 
taking off the earth at the circumference of the 
plant's circle rather than at its center. This cir- 
cumference can be pretty accurately determined 
by the spread of the branches, for these usually 
reach outward above ground about as far as the 
roots do below. A crowbar or pickax should 



PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE 131 

be used to loosen the soil, with interludes of re- 
moving this with spade or shovel. Work always 
sidewise to the plant and parallel with the line 
of root growth; which is of course, generally 
sfX'aking, outward from the center like the 
spokes of a wheel; or else work with back to the 
plant, until the root tips have been uncovered 
anyway. This avoids cutting across the roots 
and saves a much greater percentage of them 
than the more careless method of working 
around the plant, facing it. 

Gradually its hold may be loosened by tip- 
ping it forward and back and lifting on it 
gently, as the soil is continually picked apart 
and scraped away from between and beneath 
the roots. Follow all long roots away and down 
as far as may be necessary to free their tips, 
and never yank at the plant or use violence 
to liberate it. A strong, steady pull, with per- 
sistent loosening of the earth where the strain 
shows its hold to be strongest, will bring the 
tenderest root fibers out uninjured, whereas a 
(iuick jerk will snap even great woody growths 
in two. 

Once out of the ground, root pruning and top 
pruning, as already directed, should be per- 
formed; and immediate replanting is of course 
most desirable. If this is not possible for any 



ir>2 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

reason, put the plant in a shady place out of 
the wind and cover the roots with enough earth 
to prevent their drying out. Thus heeled in a 
thing may lay for days without sutYering. 



P rum fig 

Only generalities may be given here, for this 
is a subject which grows somewhat compli- 
cated as one goes into its special phases; hence 
it requires special treatment. Probably the one 
thing which needs saying most emphatically 
and reiterating again and again with regard to 
pruning is: — do not prune at all luiless you know 
exactly why you are doing it and exactly how 
to do it for that particular purpose. Nature 
herself will attend to a good bit of this work and 
with far better etYect than man, misguided. 

Very little pruning should ever be necessary 
in the ease of ordinary trees and shrubs. Leave 
them to grow in their own way, removing only 
dead or injiu'cd wood in the spring, when failure 
to make leaf growth reveals this to you; thus 
the true character and beauty of each kind of 
tree or shrub will develop unhampered. Rub ofT 
the little adventitious buds which appear on 
the trunks of trees a.v soon as they appear, 
never letting sprouts grow either along a trunk 



PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE 133 

or at its base. These are robbers, for they are 
always of rank, lush growth that takes up more 
of the tree food on its way to the leaves and 
branches above than would seem possible. 

There are two principles involved in pruning 
which must be understood and remembered, if 
the work is to be done intelligently. These are 
fixed by the system of growth common to all 
plants— that is, growth at the tips or extremi- 
ties. Branches lengthen, branchlets lengthen, 
and new branches form always by means of 
terminal or tip buds, and all growth is invari- 
ably carried on in this way. The run of sap is 
always to the plant's remotest part, and inter- 
mediate growth is taken care of incidentally 
rather than primarily. If a terminal bud is 
injured or destroyed, therefore, the sap, coming 
strong and full to the point where it was, stimu- 
lates the buds next below it into abnormal ac- 
tivity and these make haste to rush out into 
branches, each striving for the place of leader 
until one finally does gain an advantage which 
nips the others because it then appropriates the 
leader's share of nourishment. 

Removal of terminal buds, therefore, will al- 
ways thicken growth rather than thin it; so in 
pruning to thin out remember that it is not 
enough to do less than remove an entire branch 



1S4 COME INTO THE OARPEN 

at the point where it rises. On the other hand, 
where heavier growth is desiretl, tips only should 
be cut away, thus inducing many branches. 
Cut down to the point whence you wish the 
thicker growth to spring, for it is ahvays from 
near the ends of tl;e stubs that the branches 
will put forth; and prune always just above 
outstanding buds, to insure open growth and 
free center. 

The best time for pruning generally is when 
activity is at the highest point, but before 
growth has advanced sulHciently to cause waste 
through sacrificing it — hence in the spring, just 
as buds are bursting or about to burst. Wounds 
made at this time quickly heal, and the full 
effect of pruning for thicker growth is immedi- 
ately gained. Spring flowering shrubs should 
not be pruned, however, until after they have 
finished blooming, otherwise their bloom will 
be lost. 

This matter of the healing of wounds is a most 
important one — as important to a tree as to a 
man. For an unhealed wound is an invitation 
to disease which may ultimately destroy the 
plant, more especially if it happens to be a tree. 
But in spite of all that has been said and written 
with regard to the amputation of branches from 
trees, practically every community shows scores 



PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE V.iB 

of frcslily made improper cuts. Wliy it is lluit 
most p('oi)lc Hcem unable to bring themselves to 
cut through a limb at its very base, clean down 
at the trunk from which it springs, I cannot im- 
agine; but for one tree ])roperly pruned l)y such 
close cutting there are fifty, p(;rliai)s twice that 
number, showing unhealed stumps all the way 
from half an inch to four or five inches long. 

There is just one right way to cut a branch, 
large or small, from another branch or trunk; 
that is, to lay the saw which is to do the cutting, 
flat against the trunk, and thus make a cut so 
close that practically all traces of the branch 
removed are smoothed away. Such a wound 
will be larger around than we arc accustomed to 
see, to be sure, but its diameter is of no real 
consequence. The point is to make its surface 
so flat and smooth and easily covered that the 
bark — ^or skin — will quickly grow over it; and 
this it will often do in an incredibly short time, 
leaving sometimes a hardly perceptible scar. 

Insects and Pests 

The San Jose scale is now so common that pre- 
ventive measures are advisable even though its 
presence is not actually discovered on one's own 
trees and shrubs. The lime-sulphur wash or 
the kerosene emulsion, both of which may be 



136 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

purchased ready prepared and diluted and ap- 
plied according to directions which come with 
them, are the most satisfactory and effective 
remedies for holding the scale in check. The 
fact that the former is a fungicide as well as an 
insecticide makes it doubly valuable. Neither 
should be used excepting on absolutely dormant 
vegetation, however, for they may injure soft- 
growing parts irreparably. 

Either will prove perfectly satisfactory, how- 
ever, if used carefully according to the instruc- 
tions. And I prefer to use a fungicide as well as 
an insecticide whenever possible, for fungi are 
more subtle and less easy to conquer than any 
insect. Of course bordeaux mixture may be 
added to all insect sprays, but this is usually 
done later in summer when vegetation is in full 
leaf. For all fungous diseases it is the early and 
constant preventive treatment that counts. 
There is really nothing that can be done, once a 
disease is established within a plant's tissues. 

Scale' insects are likely to escape attention 
unless one is on the lookout for them ; but worms 
and plant lice are unpleasantly in evidence 
whenever they are present, hence they need not 
be treated unless actually seen. A common soap 
spray will make short work of the latter, pro- 
viding it reaches them all. It may have to be 



PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE 137 

used with great persistence to get rid of them 
all, however, for they multiply with fearful 
rapidity and each one must be drenched with 
the liquid in order to exterminate them. For 
these belong to the same general class as the 
scale insects — the class which feeds on the plant's 
juices rather than on its tissues, and cannot 
therefore be poisoned directly, but only by 
contact. 

Use one-quarter of a cake of any common 
laundry soap to four gallons of water, dissolving 
by heat and applying hot and on successive days 
until none of the insects alive are to be found. 
Leaves curling down or back are a pretty sure 
sign of their presence, for they infest the under 
side, which, drying out under their persistent 
little bills, shrinks and rolls back. Worms, on 
the contrary, eat plant tissue always, hence may 
be poisoned directly. For these arsenate of lead 
is preferable to paris green or any other direct 
poison; it comes in prepared forms. 

Directions for the use of sprays and poisons 
of all kinds should always be followed scrupu- 
lously, both as to proportion to be used and 
the time to do the work of applying; for even 
a day or two earlier or later than the stipulated 
time may make all the difference between suc- 
cess and failure in combating any particular 



13S COME INTO THE GARDEN 

pest, while lack of care in apportioning a poison 
may mean the loss of an entire year's growth 
at least, if not death to the plant so injured. 

There is one insect which I must particularly 
say a word for, while I am on the subject, how- 
ever; that is the bee. There are no better 
servants in the garden than these velvet-clad 
little pages, and their liberty to go and come 
unharmed should always be assured. Without 
them we should have very little fruit and few 
vegetables, and it is a cruel mistake to sup- 
pose that it is the bees' visits to a flower that 
cause it to fade. The bees are attracted when 
the pollen is ripe because they are needed then 
to transfer it from flower to flower. As soon 
as pollen is ripe and falls, the petals fall, for 
then the flowers' work is done and the forma- 
tion of fruit is assured. So it is coincident with 
the bee's visit that the petals fall, or immedi- 
ately following it; but the visit itself neither 
hastens this nor aft'ects the life of the flower in 
the least. Do not try to drive away or destroy 
honey bees, therefore — as I have known some 
to advocate. 

Fertilizers 

Never use a fertilizer because it has benefited 
someone else's garden; it may not be good for 



PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE 139 

yours at all. Generally speaking, we put too 
much faith in fertilizers and too little in good 
care; and many a garden starves for lack of 
the tillage which would conserve moisture and 
so make available the plant food with which 
the soil is loaded, rather than for lack of the 
food itself. What is called a complete fertilizer, 
however, which simply means a fertilizer com- 
bination consisting of the three principal fertil- 
izer elements in the proportion of one part 
nitrogen, two parts phosphoric acid, and three 
parts potash, may usually be used on ordinary 
soil to the garden's advantage. Fancy mixtures 
and wonder workers, however, are a waste of 
time and money — and faith. 

In addition to fertilizer, or rather as a pre- 
liminary treatment, sour soils need lime. Heavy 
soils are lightened by it, too, and as sour soils 
are invariably heavy, it serves a double pur- 
pose when applied to these. It changes the 
soil in such a way that the plant food in it is 
more readily taken up. Coal ashes are excel- 
lent to mix with earth that is sticky and heavy 
or stiff and cold, though they have no fertilizing 
value. But they lighten such soils and make 
them friable and more gracious. Stable manure 
is as good as any fertilizer that can be obtained, 
wherever it may be turned into the ground by 



140 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

spading; but never use it on a lawn under any 
circumstances, for the weed seeds which it con- 
tains will work more ruin in a single season than 
can be undone in many, if ever. Sheep manure 
only is suitable for lawn fertilizer; stable ma- 
nure is fit only for the garden, where it can be 
used literally in the earth. 

Lawns 

The growth of a thick rich turf carpet is 
never a matter of exceptional soil nor of much 
enriching; rather it is a matter of careful me- 
chanical preparation of the soil in the first 
place, of selection of proper seed to suit the 
peculiarities of the site, if it have peculiarities, 
in the second, and of proper care third and 
finally. Nothing can be done with subsoil ex- 
cavated from the house cellar and piled upon 
top of the good top soil in grading after build- 
ing operations are completed; on the other 
hand, very rich soil is as likely to be a disad- 
vantage as not, in that it stimulates to so rapid 
a growth that there is not suflScient root de- 
velopment to withstand drought. But any or- 
dinary soil, even a poor soil, offers opportunity 
for as fine a lawn as one could wish, if a proper 
start is made. 



PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE 141 

Whatever the conditions, deep working is the 
first step, with an appHcation of Hme anywhere 
except in a Hmestone region. Allow from sixty 
to sixty-five pounds to a plot 25 by 100 feet in 
size. When the general surface has been leveled 
after working over to a depth of eight or ten 
inches or even more, seed freely, using only seed 
from the highest grade nursery or seedman. 
Buy always by weight, never by dry measure; 
and get the selected, recleaned seed. It costs 
more than the chaff and sweepings which make 
up the cheaper grades, but it is more than worth 
the difference. Allow between six and seven 
pounds for a space 25 by 100 feet. 

The six weeks from the beginning of April on 
are usually the best for sowing a new lawn, al- 
though fall sowing is a great advantage if one 
can be ready for it by the end of September. 
Within five or six weeks from the time of sowing, 
if this is done in the spring, the first clipping 
should be done, providing all conditions have 
been favorable. This seems very soon perhaps, 
but it is this early cutting which helps to make 
a dense and compact stand eventually. 

Grass should never be cut shorter than two 
inches on either new or old lawns, for its roots 
are left unprotected from the scorching sun 
when it is shorter than this, and this means that 



l4-2 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

dry weather or very hot will burn it sere and 
b^o^^'ll. Mow often, even as often as every 
fonrth or lifth day if necessary to keep at this 
height, especially on a new lawn; and never 
rake away the clippings. They form the best 
possible mulch and fertilizer, and are so short 
when mowing' is done as often and as regularly 
as it should be that they sift down among the 
standing grass immediately and are lost to sight. 
Reseed all bare spots every sprmg and take out 
weeds as fast as they appear, peppering with 
seed the space which is thus left bare, what- 
ever the season. This is the sort of care and 
watchfuhiess that achieves perfection with the 
minimum of labor, promptness being its chief 
feature. 



PART II 

Concerned with Nature's Contribution 



143 



"I think that I shall never see 
A poem lovely as a tree. 

"A tree vvliose hungry mouth is pressed 
Against the earth's sweet, flowing breast; 

"A tree that looks at God all day 
And lifts her leafy arms to pray; 

"A tree that may in summer wear 
A nest of robins in her hair; 

"Upon whose bosom snow has lain; 
Who intimately lives with rain. 

"Poems are made by fools like me, 
But only God can make a tree." 

— Trees — Joyce Bjlmeb. 

CHAPTER X 

Trees and Their Purpose 

MOST permanent of vegetable forms, trees 
demand our first consideration vv^hen plans 
have progressed far enough to let us think about 
the actual planting of the garden; for all its 
animate and growing features depend upon 
whether the decision is for or against trees — and 
upon the placing of them if it is the former. 
It seems contrary to almost sacred tradition to 
145 



1U> COME INTO THE GARDEN 

say a word wliicli may bo iutorprotcd as actu- 
ally against the use of trees; yet I feel that I 
must warn the owner of the small place in the 
very beginning that there is a possibility of the 
negative decision being better in his particular 
case. Such a place has its opportuniiics at best 
only through the most careful conservation of 
its restricted spaces; hence trees very easily 
may become an extravagance in that they use 
up more, proportionately, than they give. A 
very delicate balance between all the parts and 
features of such a garden umst be established 
and maintained, if its greatest and best o]ipor- 
t unities are to be reaH:'ed. 

l>ut this hardly means that there shall not 
be a single tree; rather it means that often 
tliere sliall be no more than a single tree — and 
tluit there shall never be many trees on the 
typical suburban place. For if there are many 
there can be nothing else. Trees are exacting 
both above and below ground — as becomes their 
importance and dignity — and the lesser growth 
nuist wait on them and keep its distance, with 
few exceptions. Which is another proof, if an- 
other were needed, of the folly of atten\pting to 
plan a small place in the landscape style. For 
the things which, like trees, are essentially of 
tlie landscape, and essential to a landsca}ie gar- 



TREES AND THEIR PURPOSE 147 

den, cannot in close quarters take the place in 
perspective which should be theirs. They will 
always overshadow on a small place — literally 
as well as figuratively — the entire conception, 
if an attempt is made to introduce them in num- 
bers and in a natural arrangement. 

It is not trees in the aggregate and in their 
sublime forest aspect, therefore, that we may 
consider here; but trees as individuals and in 
the closest domestic relation. So the first ques- 
tion, naturally, will have to do with that rela- 
tion. Wluit is it to be — the purely polite and 
iesthetic, or the practical and utilitarian? In 
other words, shall the selection be for shade 
and ornament, or for fruit. ^^ 

This is another of those questions which per- 
sonal preference must decide. Almost any fruit 
tree, excepting the apple, may be used with 
quite as good effect pictorially anywhere as an 
ornamental tree. The apple alone, as usually 
grown, is too irregular in its form to be ad- 
mitted to the formal environment of a small 
garden. It is something of an effort to wrench 
the mind free from traditional shade trees, how- 
ever, and as yet there are not many small gar- 
den examples to show the possibilities of such 
emancipation, or to furnish encouragement to 
the uncertain. 



us CO:\iE INTO THE GARDEN 

All to\^^l streets will of course always bo 
plaiitt\l with ornamental trees, quite properly; 
but for all tlioso small gardens where trees are 
possible, I eainiot feel that the purely orna- 
mental are quite as suitable, as a nuitter of 
fact, as the more truly domestic trees which 
have eompaniei.1 with man so many ages. The 
latter suit his immediate environment more 
completely, eonsci-xuently they suit the very ar- 
titieial conditions which his presence en masse 
creates, very much better than oaks and elms, 
betvhes and hickorys. and all the forest royal- 
ties possibly can. However strange it niay 
sctnn to us at tirst to think of using fruit trees 
idtogether, there is, too, most ancient and ex- 
cellent prtvedent for them rather than orna- 
mental trees, in such planting. Indeed our 
present practice is very modern — almost wholly 
of to-ilay — and prevails only where man has 
not yet learneil values and where proportions 
are distorted. 

T>ut whatever the choice, the first and most 
important thing to be settkxl about a tree, ou 
small grounds especially, is its location. This 
is intluenced by several things, some with an 
elusive tendency to wait until the tree planter 
has done his work before presenting themselves. 
The thought of shade and inviting summer cool- 



Tlll<:i<:S AND TIIKIR I'lJRi'OSK 141) 

ness is prohuhly uppcrinosi , for one thing, when 
trees are being considered, which is quite right 
and natural. But the maximum shadow and 
shelter from sun and heat are not by any means 
always attained in the way that seems most 
likely at first thought. For the impulse is usu- 
ally to shade the dwelling; whereas it is the 
earth from which heat is reflected into the 
dwelling that should be shaded, rather than the 
building. 

Shutters will [)rovIde for Ihe house itself, 
its windows and doors, infinitely better protec- 
tion from the sun than trees can give, for shut- 
ters admit every vagrant breeze, however in- 
dolent and languid it may be, while leafy 
branches deflect and break uf) even valiant at- 
tempts of the wind to a considerable degree. 
The right position for a tree is far enough from 
the house to admit the air, therefore, but near 
enough to shade the ground about it where 
otherwise the sun would beat with its fiercest 
heat during the hottest hours of the day — a 
position which is best determined usually out 
of doors, on the ground itself, at midday, rather 
than on a plan. 

Almost any upright object will serve as a 
guide to the shadow's direction, which is the 
main thing to know. One's own shadow will 



loO COME INTO THE GARDEN 

show this, of course, but ns it is sometimes 
necessary to get some distance away in order 
to calcuhite various phases of the effect, it will 
be found more expeditious to use a stake five 
feet or more long, instead of to rely on this. 
Such a stake, representmg the bole or main 
trunk of a tree, will give the middle of its 
shadow and will at the same time show the 
tree's position definitely in its perspective rela- 
tion to windows and the house generally, thus 
indicating its possible effect on air currents. 

The maximum heat of the day during the 
heated period is usually between eleven and 
tliree o'clock — hence it is the line of shadow 
between these hours that should be thrown on 
the midst of the area that it is desired to shade. 
But the other sultry hours need not be uncon- 
sidered by any means; and often a tree may 
be so placed that it will atford much more 
protection than seems possible, or than would 
be possible if its shadow were required over a 
porch or door or window. The shadow, of 
course, travels aroimd the tree; it best serves 
our purpose when the tree is so placed that it 
travels in the general direction of the expanse 
which we wish to shade. 

The kinds of ornamental tree from which 
choice may be made for the type of place to 




No worthier motif than a tree can be found to inspire a 
feature that shall distinguish the garden, for tlie importance 
of a tree within the garden invariably demands emphasis 



TRfOKS AM) 'IIIKIR IMJRPOSK 151 

wliirli w<: ;j,n; <:onfiniiij^ oijr.s<lv<s iuc not, so 
rn.-iriy l,hal lh(tr(i need Ix-. (Jiffif;ijlly in cliooyjii'^';. 
'V\\(- piV;l.un;,sqij(i cannot f><; ad/fiil,l,<;<J, corjsisl- 
ciiUy; only Irccs of orderly ^rowfii iJic well 
h(;hav(;(J, ^;onv(;nf,IonaI, and .s<;f;frily rfifnifxtr.'s of 
the tree race — will look u,\. }ioin«t ajifi \\:i.!ii\oi]]/.<'. 
wllh ihit .sliarply (]<;fin(;(J lirnils of sij}>url>an oul- 
livallon. CJuricjusiy enough, alUiougfi w<: liavo 
many na1.Iv(t l,o t;hi.s continent, wfiicli, jiropcrly 
grown, would fulfill these requirerucnts, (-xoties 
an; Iarg<-Iy used wlien; small trees are desired, 
Jaj>an and China furnishing tlie most of tiiem, 
T\\('.r(t se(;ms to he no good reason for tliis (ex- 
cept thf; f;i,el, that the tr(;es of Jajjan are re- 
markably free from annoying hlighl,s; and tliat 
our insects flo nol seem to relish thctm as well 
as,th(;y fJo liome-grown [>roverjder— t,wo advan- 
tag(;s that njake t,hem higfjly desirafjle for the 
ordinary garden, without douht. 

Still I (Jo not feel that w(; sfiould nf^ghtct tlie 
material which is at liarjd wh(>n rrjuelj of it is 
of such fine (juality and rare heauly- arjd no 
mon; suscf^ptilile t.o f>lig}it.s and hugs tiian tiie 
Japanese stock. Anrl I have marJe it a rule not 
to use exotics when native growth that would 
serve as well was obtainable. Many times it is 
not to be had, however, for few nurserymen 
will work with native trees as they will with 



152 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

foreign — or as the nurserymen of Japan have 
worked to attain the superlative merit with 
their native material which there is no denying 
it possesses. We do not know, as a consequence, 
what possibilities we may have here. 

There is, however, the hop tree or wafer ash 
— Ptelea trifoliata — less than twenty -five feet in 
height often, never more, neat and clean cut; 
the mountain ash — Sorbus Americana — evenly 
round headed and trim, reaching thirty feet 
and having great clusters of scarlet berries 
gleaming among its green in late summer and 
autumn; the shadbush or service berry- — Ame- 
lanchier Canadensis, also Amelanchier Botryap- 
ium — the former sometimes reaching fifty feet, 
the latter stopping at twenty -five or thirty; the 
cock-spur thorn — Crataegus Crus-galli — twenty- 
five feet tall, and carrying dull red fruits all 
winter; and the fringe tree — Chionanthus Vir- 
ginica — twenty to thirty feet high and branch- 
ing low on its trunk, yet nevertheless a tree and 
not a shrub. Then there are the two small 
maples — Acer spicatum and Acer Pennsylvani- 
cum — the mountain maple and the moosewood 
or striped maple, the first rather bushy and 
about thirty feet in height, the second short of 
trunk but less bushy and forty feet high; all 
these at least are available and are very gen- 



TREES AND THEIR PURPOSE 153 

erally carried by first-class nurseries now. And 
finally, at the end of the list so that it may 
never be overlooked or forgotten, our peerless 
dogwood, the tree that is unrivaled by any other 
flowering tree in the world — Cornus florida. 

With this array does it not truly seem that 
there is very little reason or excuse for going 
beyond our own boundaries for small trees with 
which to furnish our most diminutive gardens? 
It is only a matter of knowing and choosing 
right — and of being a little less ardent in the 
pursuit of novelty. 

Just why trees or shrubs which have foliage 
which is abnormal in one way or another should 
appeal so strongly to popular fancy has always 
been a problem beyond explanation or solution. 
I suppose it may be for the same reason that 
human and animal freaks in the circus side- 
show draw; just one of those twists in human 
nature that cannot be accounted for. But even 
those of us who love to shiver at the sight of 
monstrosities would hardly be willing to keep 
company with them day in and day out and 
have them perpetually before us. Why, then, 
are we willing to tolerate, and eager to acquire 
for our own, similar variations from the type 
in the vegetable world .^ Only because we do 
not quite realize the truth about these varia- 



154 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

tions probably, hence do not appreciate what 
we are inflicting upon ourselves and upon our 
neighbors. 

All of which is apropos of the craze for vari- 
colored foliage, for the golden this and the silver 
that — and the blue spruce. Growing in the lit- 
tle groves of its kind as Nature scatters it, or 
here and there on the banks of western streams, 
this tree is an interesting, beautiful and attrac- 
tive species; but brought into the dooryard and 
set down under the windows it is almost invari- 
ably out of key with everything in sight. And 
so far from being impressive after its youth is 
past, its symmetrical beauty of form is early 
lost and it becomes ugly and unsightly. 

Be sure that the normal type of vegetation 
is the only safe type to plant — safe because per- 
manent, and truly beautiful because normal; do 
not let the promises of any person, interested or 
disinterested, avail to break a resolution to stick 
to this. When in doubt about anything, or al- 
most persuaded, yet not certain of the effect that 
will result, do not buy. Test the fitness of every 
specimen introduced by the good stiff test of 
logic and common sense. 

It is with the adornment of outdoors precisely 
the same as with the adornment of indoors; 
deep, quiet tones extend lines and distances as 



TREES AND THEIR PURPOSE 155 

well as produce an effect that is full of repose, 
permanent and restful. Masses do the same, 
as opposed to the nervousness of scattered treat- 
ment and its consequent clutter. 

Just as a room with plenty of simple, broad, 
unornamented spaces is refreshing and like a 
tonic after an interval spent in the curio-col- 
lection type of apartment, so is a garden free 
from all bizarre effects when contrasted with 
the nurseries of vegetable color marvels which 
some are deluded into planting. Purple forms 
of beech tree and barberry bush are practically 
the only variations from typical foliage color 
which are tolerable; these two are indeed very 
beautiful in the right place, as a matter of fact. 
But remember that restraint is always safer than 
extravagance, and that the small garden is per- 
force denied many things which a larger place 
may indulge. 



"In winter, when tlie dismal rain 
Comes down in slanting lines. 
Atid Wind, that graiid old harper, smote 
llis tlumder-harp of pines." 

— -i Lift- Drama — Alexander Smith. 

CHAPTEPx XT 
The Use and Abuse of Evergreens 

WITH the desire to maintain elieer of living 
green around the home during the whiter 
I wish to say at onee that I sympathize wholly, 
inasnuieh as I shall appear to be. for a little at 
least, oppostxi to what very evidently seems to 
great numbers of people the only way of seeur- 
ing what they want. Bear with me however, 
and let us see if there are not better ways than 
the eommon praetiee of misusmg mfant ever- 
greens, to this eTid. 

For that is all that the most of the small ever- 
greens we see used in massing around buildings. 
are — snuill beeause young and not grown. And 
they are not. of eourse. shrubs, though some per- 
sons eall them shrubs when urging that they be 
grouped against the foiuidations of a building 
156 



USE AND ABUSE OF EVERGREENS 167 

for winter effect. But a shrub is a distinct kind 
of growth; never the immature form of any 
tree. And because there are true evergreen 
shrubs it would seem that we should be careful 
and not misapply the word to young cone bear- 
ing trees— otherwise trees of the great botanical 
order Coniferw. 

To come at once at the heart of this misappli- 
cation and misuse, I contend that, whatever its 
size may be when it is set out, a tree is a tree 
for all that — hence to be situated as a tree and 
not as a shrub. That is the first point. The 
second is that the individuality of each kind of 
cone-bearer is so distinct, so positive, so assertive 
that we should recognize the futility of any at- 
tempt to bring it into harmonious relation with 
other kinds, under a system of grouping such 
as we j&nd so effective when we deal with shrubs 
or even with certain deciduous trees. Ever- 
greens indeed belong to a totally different class 
of vegetation from any other and demand to be 
thought of differently and to be used under a 
different concept; in which connection it may 
be interesting to say that they are regarded by 
some authorities on plant biology as a really 
passing race. 

That is, they belong with a past age — are 
the remnants of it perhaps — and show now, to 



158 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

those who understand, the characteristics of 
their struggle to survive the changed conditions 
of the present and a certain desperate effort to 
adapt themselves and thus to escape extinction. 
\Mien it is remembered that there have been 
mighty groups of animals, of men, and of many 
forms of vegetation that are no longer to be 
found anywhere on the earth, it is not difficult 
to realize that this process of extinction may 
perfectly well be going on right under our eyes. 
Indeed, why should it not be.^ What is more 
probable.'^ 

All of which makes the conifer more interest- 
ing, and certainly to be treated with the greatest 
consideration and a better understanding than 
leads to its use haphazard as "shrubberj'" to 
hide a cellar wall. Yet to hide our cellar walls 
with something that will be effective winter as 
well as summer, we often wish; and this brings 
me to the consideration first of evergreen shrubs. 
For there are many of these, every one beauti- 
ful and some bearing beautiful flowers or beau- 
tiful fruits; and of course they lend themselves 
to the foundation massing which is so desired, 
perfectly well. 

^Miich is not the case with the trees; for of all 
the great cone - bearing class there are really 
only two suited to the small garden. These are 



USE AND ABUSE OF EVERGREENS 159 

the arborvitsR, which is sometimes called white 
cedar, and the red cedar — the first being Thuya 
occidentalis and the second Juniperus communis. 
Out of the countless nursery varieties of these it 
is possible to get a considerable variation in ap- 
pearance — if this were desirable. But variation 
of this character is exactly what the best stand- 
ards of planting avoid, for reasons which I will 
try to make clear, though standards are some- 
times difficult things to explain definitely. Just 
why one thing is good while another is bad 
positively defies expression in words, now and 
then. 

But in general I think a safe guide in garden 
standards is the sense of repose. No design or 
planting which is not restful and unobtrusive, 
is good; and no design that is dominated by con- 
trasts is either of these. Above all else indeed a 
garden must have unbroken mass — not kaleido- 
scopic variety; and it must be true mass, else 
it will almost certainly degenerate into mess. 
The groups of small evergreens of which I spoke 
at the beginning of the chapter, for example, are 
called masses by their advocates and admirers 
— and they are of course a mass of evergreens. 
But they are all different in kind; therefore they 
are not what I term a true mass. To be this the 
group must be confined to one variety only. 



iGo co:me into the garden 

must be a mass of junipers or arborvita>s or 
piues or firs; tlien it has continuity and dignity 
and repose. 

With no class of vegetation is this distinction 
so aggressive, if I may put it that way, as it is 
with evergreens, although it is always apparent 
and decidedly in evidence to the discriminating 
observer. A mass of shrubbery is better for 
being made up of six or seven kinds instead of 
fifteen or twenty; a group of deciduous trees 
likewise must be limited in varieties if it is not 
to look like a collection instead of part of a 
landscape; and flowers lose in eft'ect in inverse 
ratio to the number of colors and kinds which a 
single mass contains. But in none of these is 
there such striking disharmony as in a group of 
many kinds of evergreens, partly because the 
former are not confined when growing in the 
wild to groups containing only one variety, per- 
haps, while evergreens almost invariably are; 
largely because the individuality of evergreens 
is so nrucli more marked that two kinds in com- 
bination never blend in the slightest degree, as 
deciduous growth does. On the contrary, each 
specimen stands apart, however close it may be 
put to its neighbors, protesting and indignant 
at the aft'ront which such treatment imposes. 

While the small garden may be allowed two 



USE AND ABUSE OF EVERGREENS IGl 

kinds of deciduous tree, therefore, such as the 
single dogwood or single wafer ash and an oak 
mentioned in the last chapter, it should never 
entertain more than one kind of evergreen — or, 
more strictly speaking, conifer. Several of this 
one kind may find space, of course; but however 
large the number possible, never allow but the 
one variety. My own preference is for the 
arborvitse as being more generally suitable in 
every way to small quarters. It may attain a 
height of fifty or sixty feet at maturity (they 
are seldom to be found this size), but even at 
this height it remains narrow and therefore does 
not usurp space required for other things, or for 
open air and sunlight. And it possesses much 
beauty to recommend it and is a sturdy, hardy, 
thrifty specimen. The Siberian variety is pre- 
ferred to the native by some, as it is less likely 
to burn under the winter sun and show dead 
places as a consequence, when planted in a 
hedge. I have found the native {Thuya occi- 
dentalis) quite as satisfactory for general plant- 
ing, however, and its taller, slimmer form is 
more to my liking; but that is of course a mat- 
ter of personal taste. (The Siberian variety is 
Thuya occidentalis, Wareana.) 

The red cedar or juniper is our one best 
material for effects inspired by the Italian 



1G2 COME INTO THE GAUDEN 

cypress; and it is useful also wherever an 
arborvitae might be used, inasmuch as it has 
the same columnar form. In texture it is more 
ethereal than the arborvitse, even while it is 
darker and duller in color; and as it ages it 
loses its lower branches and gradually becomes 
broad topped and picturesquely irregular and 
distorted. Wherefore, though this is not char- 
acteristic until long after its youth and even 
middle age are passed, it cannot be used where 
an absolutely permanent pyramidal or columnar 
form is required, as the arborvitse can. 

Of the small and interesting conifers from 
Japan and China that are constantly becoming 
more available as the stock sent out by the 
Arnold Arboretum — whence practically all of 
these have come — is built up by those growers 
fortunate enough to have acquired it, it must 
be said that they do seem to meet the desire for 
diminutive material that will not outgrow its 
surroundings. But with these, as with all others 
of this class, be counseled to avoid mixing. If 
the retinospora is chosen, use only this and of 
one variety. It will make a fine, dense screen 
too high to see over, if this is needed, or it will 
mark the points of the design if such marking 
seems desirable. It too is, as a matter of fact, 
a juvenile form; but as it is somewhat re- 



USE AND ABUSE OF EVERGREENS 163 

strained from attaining normal size by selection 
in propagating, and is further affected by the 
struggle to adapt in order to survive the chang- 
ing conditions of which I have spoken, the 
reiinospora will not become a tree such as the 
arborvit^ or juniper. 



**Go down to Kow in lilao-tinio. in lilac-tiino. in lilae-time; 
Go down to Kow in lihu'-tinio i,it isn't fjvr from Lon- 
don!) 
And yon shall wander hand in liand with love in siuu- 
mer's wonderland ; 
Go down to Kow in Hhio-tinio i^it isn't far from Lon- 
don !\ 
— "Co Down to Kew in Lilac-time" — Alfred Notes. 



CHAPTER XII 

Shrubbery and Shrubs 

IT is the common habit to think of and make 
nse of shrnbs — ahnost never of shrnbbery. 
Which is all the dirt'erence between a nursery 
and a garden picture, in the last analysis. For 
shrubs individually have not the pictorial qual- 
ity; indeed I think we may very safely say 
that neither has anything else that goes to the 
making of a garden, alone and by itself. Soli- 
tary growths may become splendid and perfect 
specimens, but their very perfection destroys 
their picturesqueness. So I am going to ask you 
to banish completely the thought of the lilac 
bush or the snowball in the midst of the door- 



SHRUBBERY AND SHRUBS 165 

yard and to acquire a new conception of this 
kind of garden material. Not that we are to 
make an end of these fine old-timers themselves 
by any means; but we must learn more about 
their kind than we possibly can while they as 
individuals occupy the mental foreground, ob- 
scuring all else. 

In the first place there are several important 
requirements in the garden scheme which shrub- 
bery alone can meet. Screens are needed, 
sometimes to obscure something which lies be- 
yond the boundaries, sometimes for the seclu- 
sion of the place from uninvited inspection from 
without, and again for the hiding of utility 
features in one part from the more elegant 
portions. No individual shrub, however, will 
provide an effectual screen — for to be effectual 
a screen must conceal the thing which it is meant 
to hide so completely that no suspicion of its 
presence will arise as one looks in its direction. 
The screen that falls short of fulfilling this re- 
quirement is worse than a failure; it is an aggra- 
vation, permitting as it does a suspicion of the 
thing hidden and rousing curiosity accordingly. 

Apart from its function of screen making, 
shrubbery provides one of the best flowering 
mediums that the garden may enjoy — and the 
hard pressed busy gardener as well. For with a 



166 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

proper selection of shrubs, iminternipted bloom 
throughout the summer is practically secured, 
with no further effort than the initial planting. 
Let it not be understood that I am quoting this 
in favor of shrubbery because other garden ma- 
terial is too much trouble to care for, under the 
usual circumstances of the all-the-year home. I 
am not at all in sympathy with that attitude, 
as I think I have already made plain; but there 
are many times legitimate reasons for the gar- 
dener's inability to spend much time in his gar- 
den. It is this situation which is met by the 
things requiring little care, making a garden 
and flowers possible where otherwise all would 
be barren. 

Obviously if flowers throughout six months 
in summer are to be enjoyed, there must be at 
least six different kinds included in a shrubbery 
planting, as no kind can be expected to bloom 
over a month. As a matter of fact, no kind will 
bloom that long, and six shrubs would leave 
gaps, however carefully they were chosen. 
Eight or ten must be combined to get flowers 
from April to September; but as the best stand- 
ard of planting requires many of a few kinds 
rather than a few each of many kinds, a group 
of ten shrubs each dift'erent from the other is 
not to be considered as a possibility for an in- 



SHRUBBERY AND SHRUBS 167 

slant. We must either be satisfied with bloom 
somewhat interrupted, or we must greatly in- 
crease the number of individuals planted. 

Which of these alternatives is chosen will of 
course depend on the amount of space which 
may be given over to shrubbery. A much larger 
group numerically may be used than was pos- 
sible under the old way of planting where every 
shrub stood alone to give it room to grow into 
a specimen. For a distance between individ- 
uals of from two to three to four feet is ample, 
the latter being a maximum that is rarely used 
excepting along the edge of a border, or well in 
the background where large shrubs are furnish- 
ing the high growth. The general average 
throughout a shrubbery mass should be from 
two and a half to three feet. 

It has been my experience that this close 
massing is more nearly an insurmountable ob- 
stacle to the average planter than any other of 
the innovations which gardening, treated as an 
art, require him to accept. Perpetually the ob- 
jection is raised that the individuals in a mass 
will not do well; that they will be crowded 
and lose their shape; that they will not show. 
Not doing well I find usually includes the two 
latter in its broad generality and is not a refer- 
ence to the shrub's health and nourishment. 



U>S COAIK T\TO TTTF CAT^PKX 

UoNvovor that may bo, tluniL^h, tluM'o is not the 
slightest chance of shrubs phintod in this close 
company not doing exactly what they should 
in the matter of growtli; of their not becoming 
just the shape which best suits their position 
and the artist -gardener's general pu'-pose: and 
not showing to the fullest degree desirabU^ and 
confonnabU^ with the scheme. Indeed, close 
company with its consequent mutual protection, 
is more in accord with Nature's scheme of things 
always than scattered planting. 

In this connection it may be said that :d- 
thougli the exigencies of the snuill place demand 
a great deal of restraint in the handling of the 
garden material, shrubbery is the one thing 
which simply cannot be subjected to formal 
treatment with satisfactory results, but must be 
ustxl as Nature uses it. Certain shrubs lend 
themselves readily enoiigh to the carrying out 
of more or less formal lines, to be sure; but 
shrubbery collectively, being in its very nature 
broadly pictorial, must be picturesquely dis- 
posed, riie aim should always be to produce 
with it a mass — an impenetrable thicket of in- 
terlacing boughs; and as a matter of fact shrub- 
bery rightly masscil will be almost as effectual 
a screen in winter, with its branches bare, as in 
summer when thev are in full leaf. Fori^et that 



SnrUJHHKRY AND SHRUBS 169 

such a thln^' as a slirul) cxisLs; regard the indi- 
vi(hials only as components of a blossom-strewn, 
colorful lliickcl. Look at tli(^m in tin; {Aggre- 
gate; never sejiarately. 

It is as a frame to the lawn spaces, hence as a 
boundary planting usually, that the use of 
shrubbery is satisfactorily possible on a small 
place. Heretofore 1 have not laid emi)hasis upon 
the point which must now be considered — a 
point involving one of the great principles which 
und(!rlie all kinds of planting and garden ar- 
rangement, namely the open center and nuissed 
boundary — preferring to leave it until it was 
arrived at naturally in the development of the 
subject. In the disi)osal of shrubbery we first 
come face to face with it, in close quarters. 
Trees would have brought it if we had been con- 
sidering places larger than the typical size to 
which we are restricted, although trees need not 
be quite as persistently shoved back to the 
lawn's outer limits as shrubs. Indeed they can- 
not be, if shade requirements are to be met, al- 
though actually their distribution about a dwell- 
ing to shade the ground from which heat re- 
flects in summer, amounts really to a massed 
boundary of one part of the lawn, when con- 
sidered from the lawn's center. 

A tree or two or three may advance, however. 



170 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

here and there, quite well out into the lawn, if 
the latter is spacious; but the shrubbery mass 
nuist not. except in so far as the undulations of 
its foreline. determined in plan when the design 
is made, carry it. This foreline or meeting line 
of shrubbery and la"v^^l is most successful when 
its likeness to a rugged shore line is closest, the 
water being represented by the lawn while the 
shrubbery mass corresponds to the land. In- 
lets and promontories mark such a shore, and 
lav^^l "inlets" and shrub "promontories" are ex- 
actly the effect most desired and desirable in 
shrubbery planting. Study the conformation of 
such a bank; here and there are gentle slopes 
down to the water's edge. These will be suc- 
cessfully reproduced by low-growing and almost 
prostrate shrubs, planted in the fore of the taller 
varieties. Elsewhere, masses sometimes detach 
themselves and tumble down and out a bit from 
the parent headland. Here is the guide which 
shows how detached specimens may be planted 
at the prominent parts of the border — of which 
there should be only a very few, however. 

It is distinctly apparent that tliis sort of thing 
cannot be carried out, except on a very limited 
scale, within the fifty by one hundred foot plot, 
if anything else is to iind room in the garden. 
True, a very pleasing border of shrubbery is pos- 




Such little trees as this dwarf apple are excellent material 
to incorporate with shrubbery mass anj^'here in full sun- 
light, for both in flower and fruit they are ornamental 



SHRUBBERY AND SHRUBS 171 

sible even in this space, if it is prized above all 
else; and even with such a border there may 
still be opportunity for some flowers. But great 
restraint must govern, obviously. 

Generally speaking, too little thought is given 
to the dreariest time of the year in planning the 
garden. Summer is fair and gracious and pleas- 
ant enough without much coaxing or cajoling; 
but late autumn and winter, and raw, muddy, 
early spring are rude and gloomy and sullen and 
sulky more of the time than not — yet rarely a 
thought of conciliation is given to them. Winter 
garden effects are hardly worth calculating in 
the summer home, of course, but village homes 
generally are for all the year rather than for its 
garden season only. Therefore the winter sea- 
son should be as definitely included in making 
plans as the summer; if need be I would advise 
sacrifice of the latter a little in order to favor the 
former. 

Shrubbery furnishes the great medium for 
winter beauty in the garden, with perhaps a 
touch of evergreen planting to give depth. The 
shrubs which, by means of colored bark or per- 
sistent berries, contribute most to the winter 
phase of garden making, however, are not the 
shrubs which furnish the choicest blossoms in 
summer — or that furnish bloom over the longest 



172 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

period. It is this to which I had reference in 
suggesting the sacrifice of summer in order to 
favor winter. A Hberal use of what we may call 
the fine winter-effect shrubs will curtail the 
number of summer-effect varieties that may be 
planted, but I feel that the gain in winter more 
than compensates the small loss in summer. For 
other things will furnish summer flowers, even 
though the continuous shrub bloom is given 
over, but nothing save the certain shrubbery 
masses selected for it can give to winter the 
warmth and cheer which lie in these for the 
year-around home. 

The rhododendron is probably the best known 
of all the broad-leaved evergreens — and almost 
the last one that should be used next, or near 
to, a building, I hasten to add. For of all the 
things comprising this great class it is the most 
essentially wild in every sense of the word. 
Not that any of them take enthusiastically to 
domestication — they have to be catered to 
meticulously — but at least they fit themselves 
into its setting harmoniously. But the rhodo- 
dendron cannot, for ungainliness. It does not 
sulk and it blooms and grows; but it always 
seems to me like some great, wild, unlettered 
cow-puncher (which all cow-punchers I know 
are not !) booted and spurred and in full regalia, 



SHRUBBERY AND SHRUBS 173 

trying his utmost to entertain and be enter- 
tained in a fashionable drawing-room. It is no 
derogation of either the man, the drawing-room, 
or its other occupants that his efforts are unsuc- 
cessful and that his growing self-consciousness 
makes them more rather than less so. Similarly 
with the rhododendron; no finer or more beau- 
tiful plant exists than it, in its proper environ- 
ment — which is the half shade of open woods — 
but away from this environment its actual 
beauties are diminished, and what remain are 
so obscured by its awkwardness and obvious 
consciousness of being out of place, that they 
hardly count. 

So as a first rule in the use of this particular 
shrub let us say that it shall never be placed 
against or even very close to a building, unless 
that building is situated actually in a wood and 
all the conditions around it are naturally wild 
or duplicate the wild completely. I do not 
deny that now and then there are to be found 
instances of its use in the midst of small conifers 
against a building where its awkwardness is not 
so in evidence; but these are rare, and not, 
moreover, permanent, since the conifers will 
crowd in against the shrub in time and need 
thinning, or the whole will need replanting. 

Further, there are so many things better than 



174 COiNIE INTO THE GARDEN 

rhododendrons for nso abont a building, and 
there are so much better uses of the rhodo- 
dendron, that there is no vahd reason for this 
misuse of it. Leave it to its wild, sweet will; 
naturalize it under trees and you will find noth- 
ing in the world lovelier. Is it worth while to 
sacrifice its beauty when treated thus, to gratify' 
the (mistaken) desire for it beside the door or 
against the house foundations, because it is 
evergreen? Decidedly it is not — for its beauty 
in the natural environment of woods is startling 
beyond everything else and one of the choicest 
dramatic elements available to the landscape 
architect. 

By which you will gather that the small gar- 
den is not the place for it, no doubt; let me go 
further and say that nothing but the wilderness 
is the place for it. "Where we can naturalize it 
in its beloved woods as we do any other wild 
fiower in its favorite haunt, there let us use it 
in as great quantity as possible; or where we 
can mass it in rich banks and billows under the 
shade of great trees to form lovely glades in an 
estate park, let us do so; but not otherwise. 
For other situations we have other and better 
material, no more beautiful intrinsically to be 
sure, but more suitable. 

Bear in mind invariablv that the garden ideal 



SHRUBBERY AND SHRUBS 175 

is not horticultural above all else. It considers 
instead the picture that is being created — and 
extraordinary specimens do not contribute to 
that harmony of ensemble which is the essential 
thing. So, however remarkable a shrub may 
be in bloom and other individual characteris- 
tics, in its garden aspect it must have the added 
quality of being a good mixer — unless it is to 
make one of a collection grown for the sole pur- 
pose of ascertaining how magnificent specimen 
plants may become, which is altogether another 
proposition. 

There are ten distinct evergreen shrubs that 
are obtainable — that is, they are offered by 
nurseries — which I would recommend as suit- 
able wherever an evergreen mass is desired. 
They are, in their alphabetical order, Abelia 
(bush arbutus), Andromeda flily-of-the-valley 
shrub), certain Azaleas, Calluna TScotch hea- 
ther), certain Coioneasiers, Daphne Tgarland 
flower), Evonymus, certain Ilex Hiolly and ink- 
berry), Kalmia (mountain laurel;, and MaJionia 
(Oregon grape). To undertake a description 
of each here is not necessary, but of their han- 
dling in general I may say that they require to 
be dug in the nursery and shipped v/ith a Vjall 
of earth held firmly about their roots, just as 
evergreen trees are dug. And they like a soil 



176 OOMF IN ro lllK CAKOEX 

in which forest loaves are decaying constantly, 
prvniding it with the acid that vciretable ma- 
ter of this sort aU-kne will furnish — which these 
plants all rt\|uirt\ 

The relative pixsitions which these slirnbs 
should iHVupy towarvi each other, and the dis- 
tautvs betwtvn them, an^ the same a.^ with de- 
ciduous material. The tallest aiv the llt^x Ma- 
hamia, and some dytonmaier^: the next are the 
laurt^l and Androme^ia and the others art^ still 
lower, down to the almost prv\<trate gi*c»wing 
Cofonea^tr micropht/Ua. 

0( them linally it is perhaps well to say that 
they art^ exj^^nsive material: hut if they are 
selected of a size to be rx\Uly etfective they will 
proiluce an etTeet as immediate as anj' other 
cveriTrtvn. Otherwise they will not prvxiuce a 
tiuisluxi elTect as soon as de^nduous material, 
since they are of much slower growth. ^lore- 
over, while they are growing, it will not do to 
till the blank spaces between or around tliem 
with other shrubs or even with lush growing 
annuals, for these will choke off light and air 
from them and retarvi their own prv^gress almost 
altogt^ther. These things cv>usidereii, however. 
there is no reason whj^ evergreen shrubs shonld 
not be as freely used in the small ganien as in 
the larvje. and with deliirhtful etfeet. 



SHRUBBERY AND SHRUBS 177 

But this broad-leaved evergreen group, lovely 
though many of its members are, does not sur- 
pass in winter beauty, in my opinion, the vi- 
brant warmth of the barberry's scarlet fruits, 
quivering the length of every branch, nor of its 
tangle of red-brown twigs; or the great cymes 
of the high-bush cranberry which nod aloft de- 
fying sleet and snow until spring brings forth 
the young leaves to crowd them out of their 
way; or the deep burgundy of the cornel 
branches laced against the snow; or the bright 
hips and glowing color of the wild-rose mass. 
The broad-leaved evergreens, too, such as rho- 
dodendron and laurel and andromeda, require 
certain soil conditions for successful growth, 
but the shrubs just named will grow anywhere 
practically, in any soil and situation. 

Roses are shrubs, of course — but none of the 
hybrid double roses should ever find their way 
into the shrubbery. There are several lovely 
shrubbery roses available for such massing, 
either in groups made up of themselves alone, 
or mingled with a general planting; but these 
are never the double rose of the florist. At 
most they are only semidouble, usually they 
are single. The great roses of the rose garden 
— the hybrid teas and perpetuals and all the 
fancier's kind — are artificial products of cen- 



178 COAIK INTO THE CAPxDEN 

tiirios of eiilluro Nvhich have ojiiio oiil|:jrown the 
comTiion goiioral i:;u\lon and niiK^t always have 
a plaoo to Ihoiwsolvos. Note that those arc 
novor ornaniontod with the rich and brilHaut 
berries or hips which make the wiUl rose and the 
other singk" roses such things of beauty and joy 
in winter. This is tlie penalty of doubling. The 
plant is rendered sterile and incapable of pro- 
ducing fruit. 

Boxwood is anotlier shrub growth that is iu 
a class apart from all the rest. It is tlie one 
plant of this class that, unless nseii as a hedge, 
is preferably planted alone rather than in a 
group. ^Ye seem to have lost the knaek of 
handling it etVectively nowadays, however, and 
even the boxwood hedge is ahuost never seen. 
Its slow growth is probably in a large nieasure 
the reason for this; and it is of course an ex- 
pensive species, compared to the general ruu 
of shrubs. B\it one well-plaeed spechnen of 
boxwood should tind a place in the garden, even 
though it comes as a very tiny l>ush in the 
beginning. FvT not another plant in the world 
has such an air about it as this exquisite old 
aristocrat — and it suits formal or informal 
schemes equally well, even as gentlefolks tact- 
fully sot tilings and people at thoir ease, wher- 
ever thov nun" jto. 



SHRUBBERY AND SHRUBS 



179 



Ten Shrubs for All-bummeu Bix>om with Color of Flowers 
AND Height at Maturity 



Foreythia 


Foreythia Fortunei 


Ye'Jow 


8 fee 


May 








Flame azalea 


Azalea calendulacea 


Orange 


" 


Spiroa 


Hpirwa Van JluaUei 


White 


8 " 


Lilao 


Syrinya vulyaria 


Wliito, lilac 


12 " 


JUNB 








Weigelia 


Diervilla floribunda 


Crimson 


'■ 


Mock orange 


PhiladelphuH coronariua 


White 


10 " 


July 








New Jersey tea 


Ceanothua americanua 


White 


3 " 


liutterfly bush 


Duddleia variabilis Veilchi 


Lilao 


8 ". 


Auau«T 








Giant elder 


Sambucua maxima pubeacena 


White 


10 " 


September 








Rose of Sharon 


Hibiacus Syriacua 


White, etc. 


10 " 



The above bloom approximately in the months named, and hold their 
flowers usually long enough to leave no intermissions, hence this selection 
will give as nearly uninterrupted bloom all summer as it is possible to 
achieve. 



Winterberry* 

Laurel 

Azalea 

Oregon grape* 

Spindle tree 

Fire thorn* 

Andromeda 

Cotoncaster 

Lily-of- Valley shrub 

Scotch heather 



Ten Evergreen Shrubs 

Ilex glabra WTiite 8 feet 

Kalmia lati folia Pink 8 " 

Azalea indica alba White 8 

Mahonia aquifolium Yellow 6 " 

Evonyrnua Japonicua Greenish 6 " 

Pyracantha coccinea Lalandi White C " 

Pieria floribunda White 4 " 

Cotoneaater Simonai White 4 

Leucothoe Cateabaei White 3 

Calluna vulgaris Pink, white 2 



Evergreen shrubs are not planted primarily for their bloom, which in 
aome is inconspicuous. Those marked with an asterisk have highly decora- 
tive fruits, however, so their evergreen quaUty is not their only charm; 
and several have very lovely flowers aa well. 



180 



CO:\IE INTO THE GARDEN 



Tex Shkubs for Shady Pieces 



Cornelian cherrj- 
Panieled dogwood 
Silky cornel 
Kegel's privet 
Hydraagea 
Swieet pepp^r-bnsh 
Deutzia 
Snowhorn,' 
Japanese barbern,' 
St. Joha's-wort 



Corr'us MiJS 
Corn us paniculata 
Cornus Amcmum 
Lisfuslrum Iboia Regelian 
Hydrangea orborescens 
ClMra alnifolia 
Deuls-ia scabra 
St/mphoricarpos rac»mosxt 
Berberis Tliunberffii 
Hifpericum densijlorum 



Yellow 


10 


White 


S 


White 


S 


\um White 


8 


White 


S 


White 


S 


White 


6 


IS Piuk 


6 


Yellow 


4 


Yellow 


4 



Ten Shrubs with Ornamental Frutts 



TxirQuoise berrj' 
Christmas berry 
Buckthorn 
Red chokeberry 
Cornel 
Spice bush 
Burning bush 
Gray alder 
Withe rod 
Barberrj- 



Sinn pi ecus pan iculata 

Phoiinia eiUosa 

Rhamnus Franguhi 

Aronia arbtttifoUa 

Carnus Bailcyi 

Benzoin odoriferum 

Ei'onymus alatus 

Ilex la-i'igaia 

Viburn um cassinoides 

Berberis vulgaris purpurea Purple 



Blue berries 


101-20 feet 


Scarlet 


12 " 


Red to black 


12 *• 


Red 


12 " 


White 


10 " 


Red 


10 '• 


Orange and red 


S " 


Scarlet 


s *• 




8 *■ 


Purple 


6 " 



"Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower. 
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths; 
And 'tis my faith that every flower 
Enjoys the air it breathes." 

— Wordsworth. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Flowers of All Climes and Seasons 

IT is, I know, a reversal of the order which the 
garden beginner's enthusiasm takes to wait 
until everything else has been disposed of before 
coming even to the consideration of flowers. 
But if I have succeeded at all in developing 
through these pages the garden idea, as I con- 
ceive it, you will appreciate by this time that 
the garden is the thing, and that all that goes 
to make up the garden is secondary — even the 
trees and shrubs and flowers. Of course there 
would be no garden without vegetation; but 
our custom has always been to work from the 
vegetation backward — a practice which never 
can give the harmoniously balanced and beau- 
tiful final result that the more logical method of 
181 



182 CO:\IE INTO THE GARDEN 

working up to the vegetation, from the bare 
ground, assures. 

So the garden and house are designed as a 
iniit, and all that enters into this design is eon- 
sidered and worked out before the plants are 
thought of. After all this is done, after the 
house and the garden are carefully and thor- 
oughly built, then the place as a whole stands 
ready for furnishing, the indoors with its kind, 
the outdoors with its. Large pieces of furniture 
in the house, then the smaller, and then the 
purely decorative material: trees out of doors, 
next shrubs — and finally the flowers. Thus we 
come to them fully prepared to place and group 
them worthily, and to treat them as they deserve 
to be treated. 

The times when they are so dealt with are all 
too few, unintentional though our sins of omis- 
sion are; as a consequence, the effect of the 
flowers which we do grow is not one-hundredth 
what it might be. For we should have not only 
the beauty of the flowers themselves to delight 
us, but the beauty of the garden design — the 
garden scheme as a whole, picked out and 
quickened by them. They are, indeed, the 
garden craftsman's colorful gems, his inlays of 
rich enamel, his mosaic chips, to be incorpo- 
rated into his design as these jewels and bits of 



FLOWERS OF ALL SEASONS 183 

enamel or shell or what not are assembled under 
the hands of workers skilled in the crafts which 
employ them. 

Everyone knows of course that there are, 
generally speaking, two kinds of flowering plants 
— those which live over from year to year, and 
those which must be raised every year from 
seed sown in the spring; or perennials and an- 
nuals, according to garden terminology. A 
third kind which escapes the attention of the 
beginner very often is the biennial, a plant 
which is raised from seed one spring, grows to 
maturity the first summer, lives through the 
winter, and blossoms and matures its seed the 
second summer, dying when fall comes — not of 
the cold but because its life cycle is over. 

These lap-overs are an exasperating kind of 
plant to my mind, and if it were not that some 
of the loveliest of flowers are among them I 
think I should never admit them to my garden; 
for each year young plants must be raised and 
wintered over if next year is to have its quota 
of blossoms; yet the space in the garden occu- 
pied by the blossoming plants is not available 
until after the season is over, of course. So 
somewhere there must be a nursery for the 
young stock. Annuals on the contrary, brief 
though their span, require no coddling, but may 



184 CO^IE INTO THE GARDEN 

almost always be sown in the spring where they 
are to grow; and they blossom and take them- 
selves out of the way with no confusion — which 
habit has its distinct advantages. 

Annuals, biennials, and perennials each have 
their superior points, however, and each have 
their place in garden making. Only the plants 
which are already there when spring wakes 
the world are really worthy such a garden as 
each should be working for, however. Here 
and there a clump of the others may come in as 
the summer days lengthen and a bit of spare 
room shows itself; but let them be entertained 
as guests only, in the spare room; do not take 
them permanently into the family. 

For the temporary flowers or annuals are 
only temporary; they grow rapidly and luxuri- 
antly after they start, it is true, and blossom 
freely. But they are not there at all during 
the wonderful weeks that follow the March or 
April reveille — and a garden barren at this 
time is no garden! So plan for the hardy last- 
ing plants, the crocus and daffodil, the iris and 
peony and phlox and day lily, tall hollyhocks 
and low columbines, blushing lupines, pale 
baneberry, and twinkling starwort. And ban- 
ish the salvia, the geranium, the fearful coleus 
— this not a flower but favored as flowers are 



FLOWERS OF ALL SEASONS 185 

and more strident than any — the canna and the 
elephant's ear. The presence of these never 
adorned anything; their manners are too 
shocking. 

Which brings me to the matter of flower beds, 
these being usually the medium of display for 
overbearing flowers of this type. I am glad that 
the two are associated; glad that no one has 
ever dreamed of doing such a thing as plant a 
round bed of hollyhocks, or of any other fine 
old garden aristocrat, in the midst of a lawn. 
For of all gardening offenses the flower bed is 
surely the worst — the type of deadly and un- 
pardonable sin — the murderer of harmony and 
beauty and repose. 

Such strong condemnation seems unneces- 
sarily severe, perhaps you say; but when the 
outrage which design suffers by having a de- 
tached, meaningless unit dropped into the midst 
of a fine and open space is added to the outrage 
inflicted upon an expanse of lawn by cutting its 
heart away to make room for flaunting garden 
courtesans, and all this is multiplied, who shall 
say how often, by our instinct for imitation led 
by the fear of being original, strong language is 
demanded. Better no flowers at all than a 
flower bed; there is at least no affront in the 
blankness of the unadorned — and it is peaceable 



186 COMF INTO THK GAKPFN 

if nothing luoro. The places for tlowors in a 
garden are very miieh like the plaee for gems in 
a fine pitxv of jewelry. All the design leads np 
to theni in a way — and yet no part is negUx^teii 
for thenu or becanse they are expeeteii to focus 
attention. This is exactly the ideal to adopt in 
placing tlowers in the garden design. ^Vith it in 
mind, serious mistakes will never occur. 

^[auy things will intluence the selection of 
varieties and colors after the locations are de- 
termiutxi upon, and not luitil these are deter- 
mined can definite choice be made. Of c\)urse 
it will be possible to make pn.nision usually for 
any spci'ial thing which it is desired to have, 
but the general conditions of the garden as to 
soil and exposure must be met by using plants 
which prefer these conditions. This is a phase 
of gardening that is perhaps tl\e hardest for 
early enthusiasiu to accept patiently, for it does 
seem tliat there should be some way to nuike 
anything grow that one very much wislies to 
have. And there usually is, of course, but it is 
often a very laborious way and one requiring 
knowledge and skill to follow. So the beginner 
will be mucli wiser to forswear the things his 
heart is set upon, if these are not naturally 
adapted to his garden conditions, until such time 
at least as he is no lonirer a bcirinner :md his 




M a; 






o 5 









rt a 



^:3 



FLOWERS OF ALL SEASONS 187 

garden is well furnished in the main with things 
that will grow easily therein. Then, if he still 
longs for that which Nature denies, it will be 
time to experiment, and the whole place need 
not suffer in appearance as a consequence. 

But there are a great many more kinds of 
flowers than any garden can possibly hold, and 
much that is lovely must be excluded. Indeed, 
more will have to stay out than may come in, 
for flower masses — that is, masses of one kind 
of flower — are as essential to good effect as mass 
generally. A border along a wall or walk may 
be mixed— usually should be in fact, in order to 
secure bloom through all the season — but of 
each species composing the mixture anywhere 
from three to a dozen or twenty specimens must 
be planted, depending of course on the size and 
habit of the individual. 

Just here let me call special attention to the 
little planting diagram, which illustrates a prin- 
ciple which should be carefully observed in 
planting any mixed group or border. V/here a 
clump of one species or variety meets a clump 
of another, a sharp line of demarkation must 
never be allowed. Instead, an effect of each 
tapering off into the other, secured by scattering 
together the two, not regularly at all but as 
they would be likely to mingle if self-sown in the 



./I 



( o 



o 

• 



J. \ 



o 

o ( 

o [ 5 ^' 



.1.1 



I 



Diagram sliowmg iutor- 
miiiglmg Avhero groups 
meet. 



This section from a flow- 
er borcior thrtv ftvt wide 
shows one kind of plant 
rt^prt^senttnl by an open ring 
and the other by a blaek 
!*pot. 



ISS 



FLOWERS OF ALL SEASONS 189 

wild, should be the aim. Observe any field of 
daisies and buttercups, of clover and daisies, 
or of any common wild growth, and you will 
find a perfect model. Masses of each will stand 
by themselves, crowded in places, thin else- 
where, and finally giving way gradually to the 
other, with here and there a fugitive specimen 
venturing quite beyond its kind into the other's 
preserve. Follow this idea generally in the bor- 
der, and indeed in all group planting whether 
of flowers, shrubs, or trees. A single specimen, 
such as peony or boltonia, may stand alone and 
independent now and then of course, but ordi- 
narily everything should be massed — and the 
masses should meet graciously. 

Color seems to be a stumbling block some- 
times, whatever way it is considered. But this 
is because it is over-considered or not really 
considered at all, I fancy. An idea that because 
it is color in flowers it will take care of itself 
and because Nature seems to use it carelessly 
one may do the same, is too prevalent for one 
thing, while a lack of boldness is characteristic 
of another school of specialists. Colors that are 
inharmonious are inharmonious anywhere and 
in any medium; and Nature only seems to use 
color carelessly. She is a consummate artist be 
it remembered, and can do with dash and im- 



190 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

punity things which we must beware of attempt- 
ing until we have learned enough of her tech- 
nique to have acquired facility. 

Certain plants are notorious offenders in the 
matter of color without doubt, and furnish com- 
binations which should be avoided like the 
plague. Preeminent in this class stand the mix- 
tures of zinnias that are usually seen; and phlox 
is a notorious offender with its salmon and ma- 
genta shades. Yet magenta is a wonderful color 
— properly placed. Elimination of any color 
therefore is only the negative side of color pos- 
sibility, and its positive side is capable of most 
delightful development. 

As a general guide to the use of colors, it is 
well to fix the three primary colors in mind and 
the combinations which form the secondary 
colors. The primary colors (old style) are pure 
yellow, pure red, and pure blue, as of course 
everyone kaiows. These are primary because 
they may not be further dissected into com- 
ponents, each standing by itself as a basic unit. 
The secondary colors are scarlet, purple, and 
green, and these are each made up of two of the 
primary or basic colors, and no more, theoret- 
ically at least — yellow and red forming scarlet, 
red and blue forming purple, and blue and yel- 
low forming green. An actually pure color is 



FLOWERS OF ALL SEASONS 191 

almost unknown as a matter of fact and prob- 
ably is unknown in Nature. For pure colors 
are not pleasant to the eye; their brilliancy 
needs tempering to make them endurable. 

Ordinarily two primary colors should not be 
used in groups that immediately adjoin, but a 
progression from one primary color to another 
by way of their secondary color, is always pos- 
sible and very effective if well carried out. 
Pure blue may progress to pure yellow by means 
of green — foliage of course takes care of this — 
and pure blue to pure red by means of purple. 
This last you see allows space for the shades of 
magenta; but the plants to furnish these must 
be carefully selected, since in some the color is 
muddy and ugly. 

Such a progression should not be too abrupt, 
but should move in several steps when possible, 
from primary to secondary and thence to the 
succeeding primary. And then, supplementing 
this as a general guide, is the proportioned use 
of complementary colors. These are the pair 
of colors made up of any primary color in com- 
bination with the secondary, of which it is not 
a part — as red and green, yellow and purple, 
blue and scarlet. Primary and secondary are 
said to be complementary to each other because 
if united they would — theoretically — compose 



102 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

pure light, which we most nearly represent by 
white. Of course pigments themselves do not 
actually produce white, because they are not 
pure vibrations of light, but that is another 
matter and does not concern us when we are 
dealing with a thing as tangible as the colors of 
flowers and vegetation generally. 

The three sets of complementary colors vary 
in the degree of harmony between them. To 
meet this variation they must be combined un- 
equally, the proportion varying according to 
the combmation. Yellow and piu'ple offer less 
difficulty than the other two and may be used 
in the proportion of about one part of either 
to two parts of the other. Flowers of certain 
irises give examples of this combination, also 
pansies. 

Red and green come next, but with this com- 
bination we are not called upon to deal. Nature 
taking care of green very much better than we 
could if it were left to us. Note, however, just 
by way of illustrating the point of proportion, 
that the red or the green is always very much 
in the ascendant when this combination occurs. 
Red berries among green foliage show probably 
not more than a one-to-ten proportion of red to 
green, while scarlet flowers generally either re- 
verse this bv concealing a lariie amount of their 



FLOWERS OF ALL SEASONS 103 

foliage, or do not reduce it at most below a one 
part red to sev(;n or eight parts grecm. 

Blue and scarlet are the really difficult mem- 
bers of the trinity to handle, for some mysteri- 
ous reason. It is a combination which may be 
avoided of course but we are not seeking to 
get around these things. Therefore we must 
find the way to make it tolerable. This lies in 
keeping its proportions even farther apart than 
the red and green combination requires. In- 
deed, either the blue or the scarlet must be 
practically nil save on close inspection. 

White flowers may of course break up the 
most unfriendly elements, but I do not fancy 
a resort to this means as greatly as some. For 
white, of course, can only separate, never unite. 
Progression around the circle is the only path 
to real union, never doubt that; and a garden 
whose color scheme is based upon this pilgrim- 
age is a garden of the greatest distinction, qui- 
etly and richly beautiful and filled with wonder- 
ful shades and tones. WTiereas the common re- 
liance upon white to break up inharmony re- 
sults in a brusque, disjointed, and sometimes 
most unsatisfactory effect. Moreover, white is 
itself too beautiful to be relegated to the thank- 
less role of buffer between warring factions! 

There is one other way out of color difficul- 



194 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

ties which I must not neglect to mention — a 
way that makes many of the difficulties only 
apprehended after all, and never actually met. 
This is the different time of bloom of the plants 
used. Colors that clash are seldom or never 
seen in^a natural tangle of wild flowers for the 
simple reason that the flowers which would 
furnish unhappy combinations of color do not 
blossom at the same time. Take this into con- 
sideration in selecting and ordering. 

So color really need not be perplexing — 
even with all its nice distinctions. Do they 
seem too nice.'^ And does the garden planting 
seem an appalling task with so much to be kept 
in mind.f* Actually it is much simpler worked 
out in the way suggested than any haphazard 
thrusting in here and there of this and that can 
ever be; for nothing is harder work or more 
confusing than trying to plant flowers in this 
way. And the distinctions, far from being 
overly nice, are perfectly obvious when the idea 
begins to take shape — and color — outdoors in 
the garden. 

The diagram appended, but more especially 
the plant lists, may furnish first aid to the be- 
ginner of a rather more direct nature than it is 
possible to offer in any other section of selective 
garden work. To annuals comparatively little 



FLOWERS OF ALL SEASONS 195 

space has been given; but raising annual flow- 
ers is hardly gardening in the true sense — in the 
lasting sense which we are considering here. 
And as the tendency is toward these plants and 
away from the permanent ones anyway, I do 
not feel that their merits need dilating upon so 
much as their disadvantages. 







196 



Planting Kkv For a Sunny Location 

1. DiiU'odil Narcin.iun p.snido-Narciiiiius 

2. Iris ifin iiallidd si)C(:io.ia. 

3. Peony Pwonia oJJicinaliH ronc.a. 

4. Peony (wliile) Pwonia ojllciiitilis alha. 

5. Lupine LiipiiiKs polyjilii/lliis Mocrheimi, 

(i. l»Iii()X .Phlox, "Miss Linyard." 

7. Coiiinibine AquUcgia Canadensis. 

8. Liii'ksi)nr Doiphinium. 

{). I'lilox Phlox. 

10. Diiy lily Ilcmvmcallis flava. 

1 1 . Lily I/dium speciosum rubrum. 

ri. Veronica Veronica longifolia subsessilis 

V.i. I'liinliiin lily Funkia subcordata. 

11.. tJeli Mower Campanula pyramidalia. 

15. |{ollt)nia Holtonia latisriuama. 

Ui. Snake root Cimirijmja simplex. 

17. Hardy asler Aster Novce Anglia. 

18. Hardy chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum (pompon). 

Foil a Shady Location 

1. Daffodil Narcissus pseudo-Narcissus. 

2. Wake i-obin Trillium grandiflorum. 

3. Saxifrage Saxafraga c.ordifolia. 

4. Wind flower Anemone sylvestris. 

5. False Solomon's seal Smilacina racemosa. 

6. Phlox Phlox divaricata alba grandiflora. 

7. Baneberry [Actaa spicata. 

8. C'ardinal (lower Lobelia cardinalis. 

J). Meadow sweet Spirwa palmata elegana. 

10. Day lily Jlemerocallis flava. 

11. Toad lily Trycirtus hirta. 

lii. Monksliood Aconitum napellus. 

13. Plantain lily Funkia subcordata. 

14. Phie bells Mertcnsia Virginica. 

I.'}. Indian pink Spigelia Marilandica. 

1(). Snake root Cimicifuga simplex. 

17. Native aster Aster corymbosus. 

18. Globe flower TrolHus Asiaticus flare croceo. 

197 



198 



COME INTO THE GARDEN 



Ltst of Flowers for a Color Progression 



Bird's eye 


Adonis vernalis 


Spring 


12 


ins. 


YeUow 


Blanket flower 


Gaillardia ffrandiflora 


Slimmer 


30 


" 




Chrysanthemura 


Chrysanthemum (pompon) 


Autumn 


30 


" 


to 


Tickseed 


Coreopsis lanceolata 


Summer 


24 


" 




Beard tongue 


Penstemon Torreyi 


Summer 


■i 


feet 


Scarlet 


Cardinal flower 


Lobelia cardinalis 


Summer 


3 


" 




Phlox 


Phlox "Coquelicot" 


Summer 


30 


ins. 


to 


Phlox 


Phlox "Etna" 


Summer 


30 


" 




Aster 


Aster alpinus 


Sunmier 


5 


feet 


Red 


Astilbe 


Astilbe Davidii 


Summer 


4H 


" 




Poppy 


Papaeer orientale 


Summer 


30 


ins. 


to 


Windflower 


Anemone Japonica 


Autiunn 


2 


feet 




Aster 


Aster Xorw Anglice 


Autumn 


41^ 


'• 


Purpla 


Bell flower 


Campanula persicifolia 


Summer 


2 


" 




Gas plant 


Dictamnus fraxinella 


Summer 


30 


ins. 


to 


Larkspur 


Delphinium variety 


Summer 


^H feet 




Bugle 


AJuga Genevensis 


Spring 


8 


ins. 


Blue 


Iris 


Iris 


Summer 


IS 






Lupine 


Lupinus pohjphyllus 


Summer 


4>g 


feet 


to 


Speedwell 


Veronica longi folia 


Autumn 


2 


" 




Day lily 


HemerocaUis flava 


Summer 


3 


feet 


Yellow 


Foxglove 


Digitalis lanata 


Summer 


3 


" 





The transition through green is, of course, accomplished by foliage. 
Twelve Pl.\nt3 for a Pink Garden 





In their order of floivering 






Spring beauty 


Claytonia Virginica 


Trailing 


April 


. May 


Iris 


Iris Britannicus 


2-3 feet 


May. 


June 


Peony 


Pceonia officinalis rosea 


2-3 " 


May, 


June 


MuUein pink 


Lychnis coronaria 


2 feet 


June, 


July 


Sweet rocket 


Hesperis matronalis 


2 " 


June, 


July 


Catchfly 


Silene Shafta 


5 Ins. 


June, 


Sept. 


Hollyhock, 


Althea rosea 


5-6 feet 


July. 


Aug. 


Phlox 


Phlox pan., Artaris 


2-3 •' 


July, 


Aug. 


Rose mallow 


Hibiscus Moscheutos 


5-6 " 


Aug., 


Sept. 


Stonecrop 


Sedum stoloniferum 


6 ina. 


Aug.. 


Sept. 


Chrysanthemum 


Chrysanthemum 


2-3 feet 


Sept. 


, Oct. 



Twelve Pl.4NT3 for a Blue G.\rden 

In their order of flowering 

Blue bell Mertensia Sibirica l}-i feet April, May 

Bugle Ajuga Genevensis S ins. May 

Ilia Blue varieties 2-3 feet May, June 



FLOWERS OF ALL SEASONS 



199 



Speedwell 


Veronica gentianoides 


IH " 


May, June 


Italian Alkanet 


Anchusa Italica 


3-4 " 


June on 


Larkspur 


Delphinium belladonna 


2 " 


June on 


Giant bellflower 


Platycodon grandiflorum 


2 " 


June, Oct. 


Bellflower 


Campanula calycanthema 


4-5 " 


July, Aug. 


Stokes's aster 


Stokesia cyanea 


2 " 


July, Oct. 


Bush clematis 


Clematis Davidiana 


3 " 


August 


Speedwell 


Veronica longifolia 


2 " 


August 


Aster 


Aster Icevis 


3-4 " 


Sept., Oct. 



Twelve Best Annuals fok Quick Effects 



Floss flower 


Ageratum 


Blue, white 


6 inches 


Madwort 


Alyssum 


White 


6 " 


Annual phlox 


Phlox Drummondi 


White, pink, etc. 


15 " 


Annual coreopsis 


Calliopsis 


Yellow, crimson, brown 


15 " 


Snapdragons 


Antirrhinum 


White, etc. 


24 " 


Annual asters 


Asters 


Various 


Various 


Carnations 


Marguerite type 


Various 


18 inches 


Sweet sultan 


Centaurea imperialis Various 


3-4 feet 


Chrysanthemum 


Garden type 


White, yellow, etc. 


2 " 


Marigold 


Tagetes varieties 


Yellows 


2 " 


Annual larkspur 


Delphinium ajacis 


White, pink, lilac 


23.^-3 feet 


Stocks 


Matthiola varieties 


Various 


1-2 " 



Twelve Effective Perennial Combinations 



Delphinium belladonna 
Campanula Medium, rosea 


Clear blue 
Pink 


6 feet 
3 feet 


Hemerocailis flava 
Phlox, "Miss Lingard" 


Lemon yellow 
Pure white 


30 inches 
2 feet 


Lupinus polyphyllus 
Heuchera sanguinea 


Blue 
Coral pink 


3 " 
2 " 


Polemonium coeruleum 
Papaver nudicaule 


Bluish purple 
YeUow 


2 " 
1 foot 


Liatris pycnostachia 
Asclepias tuber osa 


Rose purple 
Orange 


5 feet 
30 inches 


Digitalis grandiflora 
Lychnis Chalcedonica 


Straw yellow 
Orange-scarlet 


3-4 feet 
2-3 " 


Physostegia Virginica 
Scabioaa Caucasica 


Pink 
Lavender 


4-6 " 
2 " 



200 



COME INTO THE GARDEN 



Salvia Pitcheri 
Polygonum Compactum 


Gentian blue 
White 


4 " 
IS inches 


Penstemon barbatus Torreyi 
Hypericum Moserianum 


Scarlet 
Deep yellow 


4 feet 
2 " 


Lythrum roseum superbtim 
Stokesia cyanea alba 


Rose pink 
White 


3-4 feet 
IS inches 


Veronica longifolia subsessilis 
Polygonum compactum 


Deep blue 
White 


3 feet 
15 inches 



Phlox, "Frederick Passy," "la Vague," "Eclaireur," and "Champs 
Elysee," furnishing a color progression from palest mauve to deep rose- 
violet. 



"Iram, indeed, is gone with all its Rose, 
And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; 

But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields. 
And still a Garden by the water blows." 

— Ruhaiyat of Omar Khayyam. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Vines, Decorative and Useful 

VINES more quickly than anything else unite 
a house with the ground, hence they are the 
first things which may and should be planted, 
rather than the last, although the latter has been 
more generally the custom. They give finish to 
the most barren place in a single summer, and, 
rightly handled, afford an amount of shade equal 
to years of growth of trees — besides furnishing 
very beautiful bloom if the purely ornamental 
kinds are used, or an abundance of fruit if the 
grape is included. Moreover, all this is done 
with the very least use of ground space; where 
there is room for nothing at all literally, in the 
way of a garden, there is still room for a vine, 
or for several. 

201 



202 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

With vines as with all other garden material 
I would suggest the useful always in goodly pro- 
portion; yet there are a few that are purely or- 
namental which it seems quite impossible, and 
actually is unnecessary, to do without. One of 
these is the honeysuckle — Lonicera Halleana — 
with its ravishing odor that saturates the nights 
and days during its period of bloom, bathing the 
senses in delight. Another is the wistaria — 
Wistaria Chinensis — that for pure beauty is un- 
rivaled by any other climbing plant and by few 
indeed of any kind. And still another, for shade 
and sturdy, clean thrift, is the kudzu vine — 
Pueraria Thunbergiana — a marvel of rapid 
growth and of loose and graceful yet overlap- 
ping green, that throws a perfect shade without 
being too dense and heavy in effect. Finally 
there is the Boston ivy — Ampelopsis tricuspidata 
or A. Veitchi — which is and always will be with- 
out a rival for covering walls, when a close and 
somewhat formal growth is desired. For this 
does no injury to the walls, its flat little disk- 
fingers simply sticking tight by some process 
peculiar to themselves and never carrying it 
under nor around shingles or boards or bricks. 
I do not find, either, that this vine harbors 
dampness if planted on open walls as it likes to 
be, where there is a sweep of wind and sun. 



DECORATIVE VINES 203 

Which brings us to the question of vine location 
in general — an important question if the preju- 
dice which many cherish against the use of 
vines at all upon a dwelling is to be met. 

We must first realize that there are two kinds 
of vines, broadly speaking; the tight, close 
climbers like Boston ivy and the true ivies — 
Hedera — and the loose, open climbers like wis- 
taria and honeysuckle. This difference is due 
to the difference in climbing habit, the close 
climbers being those which attach themselves 
to the surface up which they ascend and liter- 
ally grasp it hard and fast, while the loose climb- 
ers twine themselves around anything which 
they may find to embrace and work their way 
up more negligently. The former do not of 
course need anything but a wall to help them 
rise, while the latter are utterly dependent upon 
some medium of ascent such as a trellis — or a 
wire or rope. 

The kind of vine, according to this division 
between them, will have much to do with fixing 
its proper use. Obviously the loose and conse- 
quently more airy growth which allows free 
circulation beneath it would seem to be better 
suited to wooden buildings than the compact 
and tight growing disk climbers. But both 
kinds should be kept out of the angles of all 



204 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

buildings whether they are made of wood or 
masonry, for vines not only suffer themselves in 
such recessed locations, but they are distinctly 
a detraction from the appearance of a place 
when so situated. For neither corners nor the 
apex of angles should ever be obscured by 
planting; they must be left clean and open if 
the building is to retain character and strength. 

Either flat wall composing such an angle 
may be trellised for the support of one of the 
open climbers, however, with good effect, if the 
vine is planted well out on the wall and not at 
or near the inner corner. And trellises them- 
selves are very charming ornamental features 
on the outside of a building, when well designed 
and executed. An especially picturesque effect 
results from the use of them horizontally above 
the windows of the lower floor. So placed, 
they afford opportunity for very much ex- 
tended growth to every vine on them; and 
indeed two or three plants, carried by means of 
an upright trellis to these transverse supports, 
will creep along and do the work of twice or 
thrice their number in a tracery of airy branches 
against the background of the house. 

Honeysuckle is particularly suited to this 
method of trellising, for its lower growth is 
usually light anyway, while its top growth is 



DECORATIVE VINES 205 

correspondingly heavy. Consequently it does 
best when it is encouraged to go on at the tips 
and given some help to this end. The shower 
of fragrance which it constantly pours forth 
from an elevated position, too, makes this my 
favorite way of using it— for it fills upstairs as 
well as down, indoors as well as out, with its 
sweetness. 

To share this lattice with the honeysuckle 
plant a clematis or two — not so near it that 
they intermingle, but near enough that there 
may be bloom and sweetness over a longer 
period. The Japanese variety that is so univer- 
sally grown— Clematis paniculata — flings abroad 
its foaming mass of white bloom in August, 
after the honeysuckle has finished, save for here 
and there a fugitive clump of blossoms. It also 
is not only deficient in lower growth, but weak 
as well; hence its ascending trellis must be very 
strong and immovable that it may not whip 
about and be injured at the ground. 

The vines which are planted to give shade to 
a porch or any portion '^f a house fulfill their 
purpose infinitely better when carried up to a 
projecting support over which they may clam- 
ber than when simply grovm to form an upright 
wall or screen of vegetation. This old way of 
closing in with them as if they were curtains 



200 COME INTO THE G.VSDEN 

shuts out the light as well as the sun, excludes 
much air, and of course cuts off any view which 
there may be. A light trellis at the cornice 
line, projecting two or three feet and suspended 
from chains from above or supported on brack- 
ets, leaves, on the contrary, unobstructed way 
for light and breeze and outlook and gives a 
charming open, woodsy eifect of green and 
leafy roof, in place of the shut-in restraint of 
the flat screen. "Wistaria trained to such a sup- 
port is delightful, for its great racemes of bloom 
then hang pendulous overhead. Flat-leaved 
vines also, such as the kudzu vine or the grape, 
lend themselves well to clothing this kind of 
extended framework; but clematis and honey- 
suckle and lighter vines generally will not be 
so satisfactory, although the common wood- 
bine or Virginia creeper — Ampdopf^is quinque- 
folia — is fairly good. 

^Miere this outstanding support is not pos- 
sible, or not fancied, and the vines may there- 
fore only travel up before a porch, confine their 
growth to the columns and leave the open 
spaces between these open — unless the planting 
is for the express purpose of forming a screen. 
For vines should be treated as the drapery of 
the plant world and caught back so that their 
supporting column or whatever it may be is 



DECORATIVE VINES 207 

fully realized. Never let them obscure entirely 
the object which they depend upon, even though 
that may be only a little common arbor ever so 
crudely built. Here and there a line to show 
structural definiteness should always remain 
uncovered; if it does not, a shapeless lump 
is all that in time will be discernible — a kind 
of elephantine monstrosity without grace or 
beauty. When any garden retreat gets thus 
deeply buried, it ceases to be a pleasant place 
to loiter, which is of course the very worst thing 
that can happen to it and to the garden wherein 
it stands. For usableness is above all else the 
one attribute which must never be lost. 

Flowering vines generally are more advan- 
tageously placed away from the dwelling than 
against it, both for the full enjoyment of them 
from its windows and porches, and for the better 
care of the vines themselves, especially those of 
certain species. Honeysuckle and wistaria are 
exceptions to this, but of these only the latter 
is at all showy in flower. Climbing roses es- 
pecially are not good subjects for house planting 
because practically all roses, to be kept in prime 
condition, must be sprayed frequently. Of 
course spray cannot reach both sides of a plant 
which is exposed only on one; and equally of 
course spray applied to the rose against the 



208 COME INTO THE G.VRDEN 

house will surely be applied to the house also — 
and trickle down in ugly streaks and stain it. 
Limit the planting against the house therefore 
to the Boston ivy. wistaria, honeysuckle, and 
clematis, with a kudzu "sine if there is a large 
space to be covered. 

All of these may be used, or only one or two; 
whatever the number of plants required, how- 
ever, do not go above these five named species 
unless a screen is wanted instead of shade, as 
may sometimes be the case. One of the best 
vines for use under these circumstances is the 
five-fingered akebi — Al'chia quinafa. Its merit 
lies in its particularly clean and rather evenly 
overlapping loose and graceful leaves, which 
form an impenetrable barrier to the vision that 
may seek to penetrate from without, making at 
the same time a grateful and attractive object 
to look upon — whicli a screen should always be. 

Boston ivy I should always plant to clothe 
foundations and broad, unbroken spaces on a 
building. Keep it within bounds, however, and 
never let it round ofl' corners nor hide window 
frames, columns, or other structural features. 
Lideed this is the one vine which should never 
approach a supporting member, for it clothes 
everything it grows upon so completely that the 
shape of it is quite concealed and becomes ac- 



DECORATIVE VINES 209 

cordingly clumsy. Only the loose and airy 
growth that twines should be planted where sup- 
ports of any kind are involved. This leaves 
their form fully revealed always, even though 
festooned and garlanded. 

For planting about a summerhouse almost 
any favorite may be used. Fragrance there 
certainly should be, which either honeysuckle 
or clematis or both may furnish; then there is 
the showy trumpet creeper — Tecoma radicans — 
which ought to be given space somewhere. No- 
where is it better than on an arbor, for its 
vivid flowers are seen to the greatest advantage 
amidst a mass of green such as the tangle about 
such a structure affords. Here, too, there should 
be at least one rose; add to this the crimson- 
glory vine — Vitis Coigneiice — for its beautiful 
foliage and coloring, and the combination will 
be delightful at all times of the summer and fall. 

Arbors and pergolas are the home of the 
grape, and so on these there is no reason nor 
excuse for not combining utility and beauty. 
No other foliage has greater claim to regard 
than the leaf of the grape, no bloom is more de- 
liciously fragrant, nor is there anything more 
beautiful than the clusters of fruit as they ripen, 
depending overhead. So whatever the style of 
an arbor may be, grapes may and should be 



ilO COMK WTO rUK CAKOKX 

usoil on it. likoNviso on the arbor's Italian cousin 
— i^r brother — tlie pergx)Ia. Nothing else is 
truly suitable and appropriate. 

Of annual vines there is only this to say; the 
place which gives space to them is sacrificing 
pernuuiout beauty to very little gain in even 
present etVects. For good luu'dy vines, planted 
in the spring or fall, will grow almost as much 
in their hrst sunuuer as iuiy annual. Forty to 
tifty feii in a single season is the average growth 
of the kudzu vine, with a capacity for surface 
iwering that is innnense, each long extending 
brancli sending out side shoots and spreading 
to an unbelievable degree. And the other hardy 
vines which are useful for shade or screen are 
none of them slow growing. S<.^ there is nothing 
gained by intn,>duciug the annuals, save where 
they will not coutlict with, or hinder, the peren- 
nial growth. 

The real gain in time and elTect comes through 
getting vines set out the instant building opera- 
tions are over. Indeed they need not be over 
altogether; all that is nectvssary to admit vine 
planting is a cleantxi up base line about the dwell- 
ing — and sullicient protection to the vines after 
they are in the ground to keep them from being 
trampled. Stakes driven around them will do 
this; and lumber mav be bitii: about and work- 



DECORATIVE VINES 211 

men may come and go without doing a bit of 
harm, or hindering the estabhshment of vines 
thus forehandedly started, in the least. Given 
a cliance thus to get to work just as soon as the 
ground is available for them, it is astonishing to 
see what they will accomplish by the time the 
place generally is graded and finished and ready 
for the rest of the planting. And not only the 
dwelling, but every building large or small may 
have its allowance of these widely useful plants. 
They are the one kind of growth that no place 
can do without, whatever its magnitude, and 
that every place may enjoy, however tiny it be. 



"Begin the art of finding peace. 
Beloved: it is art, no less. 
Sometimes we find it hid beneath 

The orehards in their springtime dress; 
Sometimes one fimls it in oak woods. 

Sometimes in dazzling monntain-snows; 
In books, sometimes. But pray begin 
By finding it within a rose." 
— With a Rose, to Bninhildo — Vachel Lindsay. 

CHAPTER XV 

Roses and Their Special Culture 

OF all things the rose is the most adaptable, 
so whatever the style or the size of a garden 
there are roses suitable for it — roses that are 
shrubs, others that are climbing and will grow 
where there is room for nothing at all, and still 
others that require as exclusive possession of 
their particular situation as the haughtiest vege- 
table. Which is not the far-fetched simile that 
it may appear, since I know of nothing that is 
more exacting than almost any vegetable at all ! 
Do we not give them free rein and cater to all 
their little fads as if they were royalties — as in- 
deed they are.'' 

2H 



ROSES AND THEIR CULTURE 213 

And so are some roses. But not all, happily. 
Whatever the size of a garden therefore I re- 
peat, and wherever it may be, roses of one kind 
or another are to be anticipated and planned 
for and prepared for. Hence a knowledge of 
the rose in its variously embodied forms is de- 
sirable if not essential. I am therefore going 
to begin at the beginning— not of the rose's 
history, for that is too far back in the dim 
past, but at the beginning of the knowledge and 
understanding of roses as we have them to-day 
available for gardens. 

This beginning has to do with the classes of 
roses; and when these classes are understood 
many of the questions that puzzle the casual 
observer of the flower's peculiarities— fancied— 
will be answered. There are, in the first place, 
roses from practically every part of the northern 
hemisphere, "from the mountains of Mexico to 
Hudson's Bay, from the coast of Barbary to 
Sweden, in Lapland and Siberia, from Spain to 
the Indies, China and Kamschatka." Half the 
species have been found in Asia and of these a 
little more than half are natives of Russian do- 
minions and the country adjoining; one comes 
from Persia, fifteen come from China and two 
of these also are found in northern India, to- 
gether with four others found only there. 



214 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

The parents, grandparents, great-grandpar- 
ents and so on of our present-day garden roses 
are not all of these, by any means; and yet when 
one attempts to follow the geneological lines of 
almost any individual, or even class, back to 
their inception, it almost appears that they must 
be ! For rose enthusiasts from away back of the 
days of the Greeks and Romans have been at 
work raising roses and intermingling species, 
until it is practically impossible, even for the 
most careful and patient botanist, to sort out 
which from other. So it all resolves into famil- 
iarizing oneself with about half a dozen present- 
day classes — unless further study of the subject 
is made just for the fun of knowing. 

These classes are the Hybrid Perpetual, the 
Tea, the Hybrid Tea, the Rugosa, and the Wich- 
uraiana. There may also be a speaking ac- 
quaintance with the Multiflora and the Noi- 
sette, but this need not be worried about in the 
beginning. Indeed these classifications may be 
lumped off in two general sections, according to 
natural'habit, and one labeled summer flowering 
and the other summer-and-autumn flowering. 
Yet it is not enough to adhere to these two di- 
visions; for in buying plants and tending them 
and indeed in handling them at all, it is really 
necessary to know with a fair degree of exacti- 



ROSES AND THEIR CULTURE 215 

tude what their family tradition and inheri- 
tance is. 

The first mentioned — the Hybrid Perpetual 
group — boasts an almost endless number of hy- 
brids, derived from crossings and recrossings and 
intercrossings of various hardy roses, and very 
beautiful indeed are the most of them; but to 
the novice in rose culture I always feel it best 
to call attention to just one thing characteristic 
of this class — namely, that it is not perpetual in 
the sense of blooming continuously. Usually 
the significance of the name is supposed to be 
something of this sort, whereas it probably re- 
fers to the hardiness of the plants, which 
are truly perpetual or constant, as all hardy 
plants are, regardless of the severity of a 
winter. 

Do not therefore buy Hybrid Perpetuals, or 
H. P. roses as they are commonly termed, under 
the impression that they will be perpetually in 
bloom. A few in the class are distinctly more 
abundant bloomers than the class as a whole; 
and some blossom fugitively a second time, after 
an interval of rest following their bloom at the 
usual season of rose flower, generally in June. 
But very few indeed bloom throughout the sea- 
son. All are perfectly hardy however, and grow 
in any climate without protection. Hence they 



2U? COME INTO THE GARDEN 

are highly dosirnblc aiul never to he omitted 
from the garden. 

The Tea roses are a group derived from the 
China or Bengal rose, delieate in habit of 
growth and aetnally blooming every month all 
through the snmmer. In passing I may say 
that the distinct fragrance of tea which cliarac- 
terizes them appeals to the imagination, since 
tliey are from the same parts of the worhl that 
furnish the fragrant brew. And this will help 
the unfamiliar student to remember where thej' 
come from. For the hint of that fragrance, not 
infrequently combined with what we regard as 
the true rose odor, spells Tea ancestry in any 
rose, anywhere; which is something to be re- 
garded with interest, since Tea ancestry may 
insure the persistent blooming that distinguishes 
the pure Tea rose. 

^Yhicll brings us to the roses par cvccUcncc of 
to-day — the Hybrid Tea or, reduced to common 
speech, the H. T. roses, a great class of reallv 
glorious quality, produced by crossing roses in 
the Hybrid Perpetual group with roses in the 
Tea group, to the everlasting improvement of 
each. That is. the hardier blood of the Hybrid 
Perpetuals stitTens up the Teas, as it were, and 
gives the otfspriug the endurance necessary to 
make them hardy, while the ever-blooming qual- 



ROSES AND THEIR CULTURE 217 

ity of the Tea rose contributes to the Hybrid 
Tea this tendency to flower all summer through; 
and so the result is a hardy or very nearly 
hardy, ever-blooming rose that is sometimes tea 
scented, sometimes rose fragrant, and sometimes 
a combination of both. 

As to this matter of fragrance let me say 
right here that the rose that lacks it is, to my 
mind, not to be held eligible for any garden. For 
the rose is, above all other things, a flower to be 
grown for the purpose of cutting and the enjoy- 
ment of the individual that comes with this close 
contact. And while form and color are delights 
to excite the greatest admiration and pleasure 
in the observer, it is the sweetness of the flower 
after all that ravishes the sense and transports 
the being. Red roses are richest in this fra- 
grance, pale roses most delicate or lacking it 
altogether, and yellow roses or roses bordering 
on that shade, most mysteriously odorous of tea. 

Of the Rugosa class and the others mentioned 
I shall speak later; those just described I want 
to consider while they are fresh before us — the 
manner of growing them and the methods of 
handling them generally — for these are the three 
classes from which the most of roses grown in 
rose gardens, come. In the first place, how 
ought they to be used in the garden? And then. 



-ns COMF. IN ro riiF «.;aupkn 

as a sixvnd question, how may thoy bo ailaptinl 
to the limit c\l opportuuitios of a limit i\l garden? 

-:Vi\s\voring the tirst. t.hoy oiiijht novor to bo 
iisixl as wo iiso v^ihnibs bivauso thoy art" not 
shrubs, howovor shrubby oortain oni\s may bo 
in thoir habit of i^Tinvlh. \^ Tho Uugosas art" 
shriibi! and used as snoh, as will bo soon whon 
thoy aro oonsidoiwl."* Thoso rosos aiv onltivati\l 
plants in tho fullest sense of the worxh and thei\^ 
fort" plants rttiviring cuUinUion. Vud this 
brink's us to tho noiVSj^ity of planting thon\ onl}- 
NvluTo oidtivation is possible; in other words in 
pla».vs spe<.nally prepared for them, where their 
jHxniUar luxxls may be easily met atul invariably 
rx^garvlod. They may not be soattorovl hero and 
there nor intern\inglod with shrubs nor utili.Hxi 
as a soreen nor massed as a border planting 
nor any of the other things that may be done 
with some things. They nuist be individually 
planted for their own sake alone, prxvisely a^? n 
oabbago or a oaulitlowor is phmttxl — ^juid tendtxl 
atvordingly. 

Obviously thereforo. the plaoe for roso^ is in 
a rvv^e garvion; and there is no gainsaying this, 
however dithovilt it may sound. Ts it dithoult. 
however: Not unless it is made so; for. after all. 
a rose garden need not be large and it utwl not 
be set apart by any walls or barriers of ext.raor- 



iM)Si:s AND 'i'm:iR cni/niiMO 210 

dinary rluiniclcr. All lli.il II rcilly !i<'<><ls Is 
rcco^'iiilion as a, rose f^'anlcii, and a, liahil, of 
UiouMhl llial a,cc('[)Ls ils (xiHlc^nco and il.s Homc- 
wlial dillcn'ril, coiiccpls as f)r<)f)cr and lo ])« 
^'raiil<'<!. 1 1 need he nolliiiif^ more lliun one 
uiihrokcii plol scl, apart for l.lu>S(^ plaiils, if this 
is all liial is possiI)l«; wlial wc ini^liL ("dl a })('d 
if llial Icrrii and llioii/^iil w<"r<' no! iillcrly lahoo 
ill llic ri^lil (•oii(<j)(i()ii of llic garden. Sii(;li a 
lilllc: ^'ardcii s|)a,('<' /^ivcii ov<'r lo IIm' rose is 
heller cxprcssi'd perhaps hy llic lerin rosary; 
))iil leriiis do iiol /^real ly itial ler of (roiirse if llic 
lliiii/^f ilself is ri^lil. 

The esseiilial is llial cvcvy ros*^ plaiil, sliall 
he; easily readied shall Ik- aceessiMe from IIk^ 
ground willioiil. sl,e|)piiig ijj)oji llie loos(;, culli- 
vated earlli of llu^ hed - Uial, every plant shall 
be free from inlcrferencc from every otlitT i)lant 
ill Ihe assem])la|,'e, and llial there he no inter- 
ference helow ground from the roots of lre<;s or 
sliruhs growing near \)y-, nor overhead hy reason 
of their shade. The great rosarian and good 
Dean Hole tells those who look for advice that 
"the rose garden must not he in an exposed 
situation. It must have shelter hut It must not 
have shade. No houghs may darken, no drip 
jiiay saturate, no roots may roh the ros<'." 

1^'urther than this it only remains to say 



220 COINIE INTO THE C.VKDEN 

rosos roquvro prooisoly tho same almost daily 
cultivation of tho surface of tlio soil above their 
roots that vegetables require. Provide them 
with sueh a garden all to themselves or with 
siieh a rosary as will furnish all of these things 
and you have done all that n\ay be done — and 
yon will have roses aeeordhigly. 

The kind of soil whieh is suitable for the Hy- 
brid Perpetual and Hybrid Tea roses is prac- 
tically the same, except that the latter have not 
the same taste for clay admixture that the for- 
mer have. It can hardly be too rich and heavy 
for Hybrid rorpetual roses, but Teas and Hy- 
brid Teas will do lietter if such a soil is made 
lighter and warmer by having a portion of sand 
worked through it. ^Vhen it comes to the actual 
mixing of a soil, follow the proportions of one 
part well decomposed stable manure to three 
parts of good rich loam or vegetable mould such 
as woods earth represents. This does not mean 
that a special soil nuist be made up in order to 
grow roses; Init this is the ideal whieh ought to 
be approxin\ated as nearly as possible, in order 
to grow the best roses. The soil of a good vege- 
table garden, or such soil as will furnish a good 
vegetable garden when it is worked up, is per- 
fectly all right for roses, when suitably enriched 
with uumure. 



KOSKS AND TIIKIR CULTURE 221 

Many times jidvice is given to dig all the soil 
out of the proposed rose beds lo Ji depth of two 
feet or more and replace it with soil specially 
nn'xed iind worked over for the i)urpose. Under 
some cireiimstanees this should be done; and 
where it is done, be sure that no part of the work 
is slighted. Have the space to be planted ex- 
cavated to the proper depth — two feet to thirty 
inches at the least, for roses are deep rooted 
plants and the purpose is to provide perfect 
drainage bcloiv their roots — and as the exca- 
vating is done, pile the sods, the top soil, and the 
subsoil in separate piles. 

Once down to the level decided upon, the 
floor of the excavation should be loosened up 
well with a pick and a layer of stones, cinders, 
broken bricks, or gravel — any permanent drain- 
age material — spread ui)on it from three to five 
or six inches in depth. Upon this throw in the 
subsoil, mixed with one quarter its bulk of well- 
decomposed stable manure — from cow stables, 
])referably — then i)ut in the sod, which should 
be broken up thoroughly and also mixed with 
one quarter its bulk of manure; and last of all 
fill in with the top soil into which no manure 
need be mixed. This final layer may come 
three inches above the adjoining earth, for when 
the space finally settles, under the action of the 



222 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

elements, it will be a little less than level with 
the unworked ground around — which is pre- 
cisely what it should be to catch and hold the 
moisture when it rains. 

It is not necessary to go to this great pains 
always however, and for the gardener who has 
average soil to work with I would not suggest 
it, unless his ambition is to grow something ex- 
ceptional in the way of roses. For as I have 
said, roses^will almost certainly grow practically 
anywhere, and if you will remember that the 
Hybrid Perpetuals will not do well in a light 
soil — that they do positively require a heavy, 
strong, clay — and that Hybrid Teas will do best 
in a light soil, but that both require absolutely 
perfect drainage; that both need a root-bed 
made up of at least one-quarter its bulk of thor- 
oughly decomposed stable manure (but that 
this must not have lain out in the open and so 
lost its enriching elements), you will be sure of 
success. Examine the proposed site of the roses, 
use common sense to bring it to the proper con- 
dition, and then proceed. 

As they are larger and stronger growing 
plants Hybrid Perpetuals are usually set further 
apart in the beds than Hybrid Teas, the proper 
distance between them being two and a half feet 
while between the Teas and Hybrid Teas it is 




Whether trailing over a bank or supported as here, climb- 
ing roses are one of the most dramatic elements in all 
the world of flowers as well as one of the least capricious 



ROSES AND THEIR CULTURE 223 

only necessary to allow two feet. If a double 
row is to be planted in a bed — and more tlian a 
double row is not advisable, since every plant 
must be accessible from the outside of the bed 
— a width over-all of four feet will make it pos- 
sible to set the plants nine inches from the edge 
of the bed and the required distance apart; 
they may be staggered instead of planted di- 
rectly opposite each other and enough space 
gained on a bed of ten feet in length for at least 
two extra plants. I do not like the effect as well 
however as I do when they are placed evenly 
along the two sides and opposite — and the gain 
is after all inappreciable. 

So much for the roses of high culture, which 
give us the glorious double and exquisitely 
formed flowers we commonly visualize at the 
mention of the rose. That they are the result 
of high culture, that they are truly patricians 
with an almost endless line of noble blood back 
of them we have only to examine the wild roses 
of the different parts of the world to see. For 
in the uncultivated rose "the corolla is com- 
posed of five heart-shaped petals, which consti- 
tute the rose in its single or natural state" — as 
who does not know, since they grow wild every- 
where in our country as well as in most others. 

The wild roses of different parts of the world 



224 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

vary however, quite as niiich as the races of 
men; and the wiki rose of Japan, Corea, and 
Northern China is so much more beautiful than 
any other and so much finer in every way that 
it occupies a pLace quite by itself in the rose 
workl. This is the Rugosa or Ramanas rose, in- 
troduced to the western work! about 1885, and 
immediately firing the imagination of rose grow- 
ers and horticulturists in Europe and America, 
who foresaw in future hybrids from it the ideal 
perfectly hardy and continuously blooming roses 
they had so long sought to produce. This of 
course was the beginning of the Rugosa group. 

Of these possibilities suffice to say that cer- 
tain splendid roses already offered bear out 
their expectations and stimulate their endeavors 
further; but these are not of as great interest to 
us here and now as the type itself,, and its several 
variations that still maintain the characteristics 
of the original. It is a delightful shrub, notwith- 
standing it is a rose, and perfectly at home in 
the midst of a shrubbery mass where its splendid 
foliage; rich green in color and deeply rugose or 
creased and wrinkled, furnishes an unusually 
vivid element. Its large pink or white single 
blossoms (or semidouble as they are in some of 
its variants) are produced freely in early sum- 
mer and at intervals all summer; that is, there 



ROSES AND THEIR CULTURE 225 

are usually blossoms here and there over a bush, 
all summer long — and the fragrance of even a 
solitary flower is sufiBcient to be noticeable in 
passing the plant. Its scent indeed is excep- 
tional in that it seems to be so abundant without 
being strong. In which connection it is in- 
teresting to know that it was used a thousand 
years ago by the Japanese court ladies in the 
preparation of a perfume; and it has always ap- 
parently been accorded recognition in its native 
land, and been high in favor. 

As a natural hedge the rugosa rose is splendid, 
where there is space to allow it free growth. 
The individuals sucker freely, however, and 
cover a space fully four feet wide, hence 
should not be used where space is limited. But 
no shrubbery border ought to miss its excep- 
tional contribution; and it can as a matter of 
fact be kept in check by pruning back very 
much as any sheared hedge is pruned. Handled 
in this way it becomes an absolutely impene- 
trable thicket, owing to its spines and its habit 
of suckering — that is, throwing up endless 
shoots direct from the roots, as the lilac does. 

The wichuraiana rose came to us in 1893 also 
from Japan, introduced by the late Jackson 
Dawson of the Arnold Arboretum; and it is the 
progenitor of a great number of the loveliest 



226 COME INTO THE C.\KDEN 

oliinbing rosos in the world -tho AViohiirniana 
group — produced by our hybridizers throui^h 
crossiui: it with Teas and Hybrid Perpetuals. 
Of it authorities say that it does well in all sorts 
of situations, which is literally true; and inas- 
nuich as it and its otTsprinc are elinibers, there 
is the added feature of its requiring space ver- 
tioally instead of hori.-ontally. to reconuueud it 
to the smallest garden. 

.Fnrthernu'>re, nothing ever ails roses of wieh- 
iiraiaua parentage and insects never seem to 
care to devoin* them. Their foliage is iuN'ari- 
ably glossy and oven witlunit the tlowers the 
plants are highly decorativt^ — which cannot be 
said of the hybrids of the Alultiflora group, 
another developed about the same time from the 
u\ultitlora rose, introduced also from Japan. 
The well-known crimson rau\bler is an example 
of this class, remarkable Tuany of them in tlorif- 
erousness but nearly all marred by susce[)ti- 
bility to mildew and the depredations of in- 
sects. Among climbing roses therefore always 
look for wichuraiaua parentage and a\ind nuil- 
titlora parentage unless proof of foliage quality 
throughout the season in one of the latter is 
available. 

The Noisette roses are a miich older class — 
three generations older indeed — distinguished 



Il()Si:S AND TUVMl ( lIl/rillMO 227 

by hciii^ cluslcrcd in fl()W(M-. 'VUr'w (n-'v^hi \v;i.s 
uboul, 1814 and curiousl}^ cnou'.fli Ariictican, 
Ihongh il WHS Louis NoiscI Ic: of I^' ranee who Hv.nt 
thenj oul Hrsl and for wlioin lliey arc najiicd. 
They slarlcd with a liybrid b<>l vvec^n lh(^ lender 
Cln'na or Ben<^'al ro.se and (he equally Icnd'T 
nnisk rose; and of llieni il is enouf^li lo say Ihal 
some of llie finest yellow ros(\s are in Ihis (^lass 
— but that they arc not more liardy than the 
I ea rose. 

No ehapler on roses is eom[)lete williout 
ref(M-en(;e to the wihl roses of our own United 
Stales, which offer material for shrubbery plant- 
ing and for naturalizing in wild situjitions, quite 
unrivaled. There is first of all the prairie rose 

ro.sa sci'ujrrd of the bolanisis and nurserymen 
— wliich grows six feet high and has long, <lroop- 
ing canes that are loaded with the; ehislered 
single i)ink blossoms for two or three weeks at 
a time, since tliey do not open at once but suc- 
cessively. 

Then there are the six-foot ro.va hicida with 
solitary briglil i)ink flowers and warm red- 
brown stems in winter that arc most decorative, 
with bright red hips or pods scattered along 
them; ro.va linmilin that is usually only half 
the height of I Ik; fh'st which it otherwise closely 
resembles; rasa nil/ida which is again half the 



228 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

height of the preceding — in other words scarcely 
more than a ground cover, for which it may be 
used with exceptional effect on rough banks and 
wherever a semiwild growth will be suitable; 
and n\m Carolina, which grows to a height of 
eight feet and has pink flowers in corymbs. 
There are of coiu-se others, but they are not 
suihciently important to be mentioned. 

One may therefore choose almost any kind of 
rose garden, sure of finding material just among 
roses with which to plant it exclusively. Or he 
may combine the different types into a grand 
ensemble of roses which shall demonstrate the 
flower's infinite capacity for adjustment to vary- 
ing situations the while it provides a garden of 
extreme individuality and delight. Or he may 
shelter a doorstep with a single climbing rose, 
or plant a fence with these, in variety. There is 
mdeed practically no limit to the possibilities 
with this lovely and justly designated queen of 
all flowers, which has been beloved of all races 
of man and cultivated from the very dawn of 
civilization. 

It has enemies in the form of disease and in- 
sects; but these are not difficult to control and, 
once the routine of maintenance in a rose garden 
is established, it becomes instinctive to spray 
as precaution — which is of course what insures 



ROSKS AM> TWlAli rCI/lCRK 220 

heaRhy plants unr] supftrlatlvf: Mo^sorns. For 
tin; ros'::-> of a general oharactcr liowftver ''as dis- 
tinct, from t.he Ilyl^rifJ J^;^pr:l,lJals and Hybrid 
Toasj spraying is rarely required, sinee tijft really 
good varir;t.i(;s of liotii elini}>ers and shrubs are 
rugged enougli t,o wiUist.and all .-.orts of at,t,ae-ks. 
It. is not. possible; t.o go into all t.he det.ails of 
either spraying or pruning here, however; but, 
a list of authoritative books on the rose will be 
found at the end of thft bof^k, wljieh will pro- 
vide explicit directions for tlir- h^ast as well as 
th(t gr(*al.est of rose garden operations. 

I must say tliis, however, as to pruning: fut 
your roses as freely as you will all of the Hy- 
brid 'VciXH and Teas as well as tlie oth<'rs, though 
it is less important with th(;rn— bfe;jijse the rose 
always f>Ioonjs upon nev) wood; in otii'-r words, 
its flowers are- borne on branches that liave risen 
during the current summer. Pruning ''of any 
plant) induces the fornrjation of new branches to 
lake the place of those sacrificr-d, tljerefore free 
cutting — which amounts to j;runing -of the 
rose inducers constant formation all througli the 
season of just the wood n'-e'->^ary to insure 
more blossoms. And in cutting the flowers, 
cut with as long sterns as possible without 
sacrificing undeveloped flower buds, in order 
to induce the new woofJ to forrrj low down on 



230 COME INTO THE GARDENj 

the bush and thus avoid making it over heavy 
at the top. 

A ROSE DIRECTORY 

This Hst includes the choicest in each class 
in the various colors. All but Rugosa and H. P. 
roses should be given some protection through- 
out the northern zone of the United States, 
which may be said to extend to the latitude of 
the southern shore of Lake Erie; below this to 
the northern boundary of Tennessee the Tea 
roses need protection, but from this latitude 
on south — except in the cold mountainous re- 
gions — no protection is necessary. The Rocky 
Mountain region generally, north or south, is 
not suitable to roses of any kind, though there 
may be spots favoring them here and there. 



Hybrid Perpetual 


Gen. Jacqueminot 


Red 


Anne de Diesbach 


Red 


Magna Charta 


Rose carmine 


Mme. Gabrielle Luizet 


Pale pink 


Margaret Dickson 


White 


Frau Karl Druschki 


White (lacks fragrance) 


Yellow Frau K. Druschki 


Yellow 




Hybrid Tea 


Chateau de Clos Vougeot 


Heavy scarlet 


Edward Mawley 


Crimson 


Gen. MacArthur 


Scarlet 


Los Angeles 


Flame pink 


La France 


Silvery pink 



ROSES AND THEIR CULTURE 



231 



Queen of Fragrance 
Florence Pemberton 
Viscountess Folkestone 
Bessie Brown 
Mrs. Aaron Ward 
Duchess of Wellington 



Pink 

Blush white 
Cream white 
Ivory white 
Yellow 
Yellow 



Climbing 



Excelsa — Hybrid Wichuraiana 



Climbing American Beauty- 
Bess Lovett— H. W. 
Dr. W. Van Fleet— H. W. 
Silver Moon — H. W. 
Aviator Bleriot — H. W. 
Gardenia 



Scarlet (use instead of Crimson Ram- 
bler always) 
-H. W. Deep rose 
Bright red 
Pink 
White 
Yellow 
Yellow to white 



Shrubby Roses 



Roseraie de I'Hay — Hybrid Rugosa 

Belle Poitevine— H. R. 

Conrad Ferdinand Meyer — H. R. 

New Century — H. R. 

Nova Zembla — H. R. 

Blanc double de Coubert — H. R. 



Dark red; very fragrant 
Pink; free bloomer 
Silver pink 

Flesh pink, double and large 
Pure white; abundant 
White, semi-double, large, long sea- 
son 



"There is not in tlie wide world a valley so sweet, 
As tliat vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet." 
—The Meeting of the Waters — Moore. 

CHAPTER XVI 

Water Filatures and Water Flowers 

NOTHING that we may have in a garden is 
as temperamental as water: nothing will 
change the whole mood of a composition so 
definitely as it may be changed by the manner 
in which this element is handled. It introduces 
moreover, however it may be handled, a lively 
interest which accompanies nothing else. But 
it must be keyed to its surroundings even more 
thoughtfully than the other elements of the 
garden, just because it is so vivid and tempera- 
mental. Wherefore let us examine its two op- 
posing aspects and analyze them. 

In one it is animated and lively and gay, per- 
sonifying activity of the highest degree; in the 
other it is subdued, placid, the very essence of 
repose, pensive and even melancholy under cer- 
tain circumstances. Obviously here is a wide 
232 




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WATER FLOWERS 233 

range of choice, and just as obviously a choice 
must be made. For except under very unusual 
conditions these two aspects cannot be success- 
fully combined. That they are both very often 
seen together in elaborate gardens is no argu- 
ment for the propriety of using them thus, nor 
for methods that ignore all nicer subtleties of 
harmony. 

Water in motion, curiously enough when we 
stop to think of it, does violence to its own pro- 
foundest law; for water is, by its very nature, 
static. It seeks its level — which is rest. Hence 
nothing can be more agitated, more ill at ease 
in a sense, than the rushing, tumbling stream or 
the plunging cataract; just as nothing is more 
expressive of force irresistible than the spurting 
jet or playing fountain, though the latter may 
be as a matter of fact an expression of a certain 
contentment which the stream is denied, inas- 
much as it merely dances at its level, otherwise 
its place of rest. 

Yet neither the jet nor the fountain of gentlest 
play will produce the serenity which is, in the 
last analysis, the very heart and soul of the kind 
of garden desirable to live in. Only the pool 
will do this; for the quiet pool is above all at 
peace — satisfied — resting, pensive, setting up at 
the first glimpse of its shining surface the mood 



234 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

of reverie. Its still waters engender a reflective 
quiet of spirit that will pervade the whole 
garden, brooding over it to its eternal serenity 
and enchantment. On the other hand however, 
always be on guard against emphasis laid too 
exclusively upon this quality lest the calm be- 
come moodiness, taking on a somber character 
in some way. Reflections which the water 
catches have a deal to do with this. Be sure 
therefore that it is sunlight and not shadow 
which lies upon it — in other words, choose a lo- 
cation for a pool always in the open and never 
beneath the shade of trees. An overhanging 
branch may be permitted, for its reflection; but 
never more than one-third of a water surface 
should be in shadow, regardless of a pool's size 
and of whether it is formal or naturalistic in 
character. 

In the small garden it is necessary to choose 
between water as the garden's dominant feature; 
or setting apart a portion of what may already 
be very limited area for a tiny water garden; or 
being frankly playful and introducing a verita- 
ble toy pool secluded where it can be a little sur- 
prise — surprise being one of the garden's most 
valuable assets, by the way. Let us never lose 
sight of this, whatever feature is being con- 
sidered. Not that it is ever desirable to be 



WATER FLOWERS 235 

melodramatic nor to astonish through bizarre 
efforts, but wherever some charming bit may 
be come upon unexpectedly in an unforced, 
natural manner the whole garden will gain im- 
measurably in interest. 

This necessity for water to dominate or else 
be set apart and hidden lies in the character of 
the element itself, and is unavoidable. For if a 
pool is exposed to view throughout the entire 
area of the garden, it focuses interest no matter 
what other features are in evidence, and even 
though it is not large. So it is always a question 
for the individual to decide — whether water will 
be an adjunct or the feature of his garden; pro- 
viding of course it is the small garden of the 
type dealt with here throughout. Whichever 
choice is made however, interest in the pool it- 
self must never distract from the necessities of 
its surroundings nor beguile into a belief that 
the pool alone is quite enough. A rich back- 
ground is necessary, this being the general back- 
ground of the garden of course, where the pool 
is allowed dominance, but narrowing to the 
planting and features which seclude the water, 
where it is set apart. 

This background must be supplied with refer- 
ence to its importance in the general scheme 
both from without and within — and also in the 



2S6 co:me into niF. g.vrden 

indirect aspect in which vetlections in the \Yater 
will present it. There are the skyhue, the color, 
and the marginal line, as these repeat in the 
water: and they are sometimes quite as vivid 
in their inversion as in their actuality. The pool 
indeed may very well be considered as exactly 
doubling the garden's loveliest etl'eets. since 
there is within its depths a persistent Jt- capo 
presenting every theme w ith T\uances ditYerently 
shade<.l. Its retltvtions are truly therefore as 
nmch a part of the garden as the plants and 
tlowers which provide their substance. 

As with all the other eUnnents in the design 
of the small garden, the pool that makes no ef- 
fort to be naturalistic will best suit its environ- 
ment. Frankly a basin to hold water that is 
artiticially provided, it still has opportunities for 
grace and beauty in its form: that this form 
shall frankly express its true character rather 
than endeavor ^in vain, inevitably l^i to create 
an impression of being a natural product, is 
tlie only thing possible unless all sincerity is 
sacrificed. 

No one has come thus far along the garden 
way with me, 1 am eontideut, without realizing 
that the ideal >Yhich it is my contention should 
ever be set up and persistently striven for, in 
gardei\ concept and garden design, is straight- 



WATER FLOWERS 237 

forward sincerity. Where a pool truly natural 
is possible — and by truly natural I mean abso- 
lutely without any interference by man except 
to the extent of building a dam possibly, to hold 
back the waters of a little stream, or excavating 
a bog or natural drainage basin where surface 
waters collect, until such basin is deepened suffi- 
ciently to hold water throughout the season — 
naturalistic treatment of its margins and of its 
planting will follow as a matter of course under 
this ideal. But where a pool is built, even 
though the building is not done with cement, in 
form and marginal finish and general treatment 
let it be honestly wnnaturalistic. 

This does not preclude the use of grass mar- 
gins any more than it need involve wide and 
ugly copings of concrete, for turf may be car- 
ried right to the water's edge of a square, round 
or rectangular pool quite as well as to the edge 
of one of irregular shape. Moreover it need not 
involve a set and formal treatment of the garden 
generally ; for there is a vast difference between 
frankly admitting our human part in a garden, 
through its design and ordered and orderly 
beauty, and emphasizing our presence by 
making every feature aggressively eloquent of 
ourselves and our dominion over inanimate 
materials. 



238 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

The construction of a garden pool may or 
may not involve a considerable outlay, not 
merely according to its size but according to tlie 
method employed and also the source of the 
water supply. If this has to be piped from a 
main it is one thing, if it comes from private 
supply upon the place it is another, and of 
course if it is available from a spring or spring- 
fed rivulet or stream, it is still another. Most 
common is the first named; and the manner of 
piping into the basin as well as of constructing 
the latter is therefore more generally typical. 
The bottom of the finished basin need not be 
more than two feet below the surface of the 
ground and a thickness of six inches is sutficient 
for this. Hence an excavation three feet in 
depth is enough, since it allows full six inches 
for a cinder-bed upon which to build the bottom 
of the pool. It is not supposed always to be 
necessary to start with such a foundation; but 
it is very safe to do so. 

Both bottom and sides of a concrete basin 
should be reinforced with strong wire netting, 
wire lathing or bars — the latter are necessary 
only for large tanks where the walls are eight 
inches in thickness — placed so that it conies in 
tlie middle of the concrete when this is poured 
in. And the sides of small pools shoidd slope 



WATER FLOWERS 239 

in from top to bottom, outside as well as inside, 
as a precaution against heaving by frost, this 
slope giving the cross section of the finished 
basin something the appearance of a huge un- 
covered vegetable dish. 

Large pools must have thick walls and be 
frost resistant; and even in these it is better to 
slope the walls outward from bottom to top. 
For in the event of water freezing in them dur- 
ing an extreme winter, the expansion is given 
opportunity by the greater width at the top for 
upward play, and this insures the walls holding 
without cracking. 

The water should flow in at the side at the top 
and be taken out at a central vent into which a 
standpipe is sometimes inserted to maintain the 
overflow level. I must confess that I dislike this 
method however as unsightly, and prefer a side 
overflow; and as it is never supposed that either 
intake or overflow shall be rapid, there is no 
reasonable objection to it. The vent at the cen- 
ter, where the floor of the pool may be slightly 
depressed, is of course to be retained in order to 
make complete drainage easy when necessary, 
with a close fitting plug or cap closing it at other 
times. For very tiny pools, however, surface 
filling with a hose will suffice and the water may 
be dipped out when it is advisable to clean the 



240 COME INTO THE G.VRDEN 

bottom. As a matter of fact, however, such 
cleaning is seldom needed, since a bottom cover 
of gravel ought ahvays to be spread above earth 
if this is placed directly in the pool for the pur- 
pose of gro^ying plants therein: and this gravel 
should remain undisturbed throughout the sea- 
son at least. 

A small pool may be made by digging out the 
earth in the form of a deep saucer — oval, rect- 
angular, or round as desired — instead of making 
side walls that are detinitely vertical. Such an 
excavation as this slopes gradually down to the 
requisite depth and actually becomes a big 
saucer of concrete, when tinished; for the four 
to six inch layer of this is molded directly onto 
the ground and rests in the depression quite se- 
cure from frost action. Make the wall gradu- 
ally increasing to the greater thickness as it 
reaches the lowest point: and make its descent 
as steep as you choose, providing you avoid an 
actually flat bottom. For all concrete pools 
the proper proportion is one part cement, 
two parts sand and three parts broken stone 
or gravel. 

Of water plants there are a great number: and 
many kinds. The water-lily is of course the 
best known of all. for it grows in all parts of the 
world and is one of the loveliest. Alwavs re- 



WATER FLOWERS 241 

member, however, that water as a feature of the 
garden must be itself in evidence and not ob- 
scured by growth upon its surface. Which is by 
way of reminding that great restraint is needed 
to hold enthusiasm in check when it comes to 
planting a pool or water garden; for if it is 
large and roomy, the natural feeling is that 
it will accommodate a considerable number 
of plants, and if it is small it will at least 
afford opportunity for raising one's own water- 
Hly! 

This is as likely as not what it will not do, 
however; for there are few things in the plant 
world as huge, considering their root-hold, as 
most water plants. It takes very little space 
comparatively to afford a water-lily support, the 
allowance per plant in cubic feet ranging from 
four to ten — the latter being for the tender kinds 
which are more luxuriant growers than the 
hardy varieties. This, being interpreted, means 
a box of earth from two feet square by one foot 
deep to three by three-and-a-half by one foot. 
But a plant growing in a box of this size will 
cover a water surface ten by ten feet; hence in 
a pool no larger than this there is actually no 
room for even a single ordinary water-lily if the 
water itself is not to disappear ! There is happily 
however a pygmy variety from Japan that may 



242 CXBIE INTO THE GARDEN 

bo grown in close quarters, if the gardener simply 
cannot live without one. 

Instead of water-lilies however there are 
several charming aquatics less rampant in 
growth and of long extended bloom, available 
for modest pools. One of these which cannot 
fail to bo a source of great pleasure is the water 
hyacinth, the weed which put an end to navi- 
gation on a southern river years ago but which 
above the frost line can never be a menace, even 
if it escape from cultivation, since it is tender 
and killed back by winter. There are two vari- 
eties of this, one bearing lavender-blue flowers, 
the other blossoms of a rosy -lilac. The former 
needs to be planted in soil under four to eight 
inches of water, but the lilac-tlowered variety 
^^which is the pest") is a true floating plant and 
needs only to be placed on the water. It will 
take root of itself however, if the water is not 
more than six or eight inches deep and there is 
earth at the bottom: and as it blossoms during 
July -and August when other flowers are not 
abimdant. it is highly desirable. 

It may be grown also in an ordinary tub half 
filled with earth and filled to the brim with 
water; and if no other attempt at water gar- 
dening seems desirable or possible, here is an in- 
teresting variant of it that may entertain if one 



WATER FLOWERS 243 

has no more than a windowsill as a garden site; 
or such tub may be sunk into the ground in any 
sunny spot in ever so large a garden. The rapid 
growth of the plant is easily overcome by the 
simple expedient of taking out as much as neces- 
sary as often as necessary ; and for over-winter- 
ing, a broad bowlful indoors is a most desirable 
mass of living green for any room. 

Another suitable plant is the water poppy, 
also tender and needing to be kept in a tub in- 
doors in winter. Its preferred submergence is 
under the same depth of water as the water hya- 
cinth — six to eight inches — and its leaves and 
flowers also float. The latter are yellow and 
suggestive of the poppy, and they are abundant 
and continuous all summer. And a third charm- 
ing water plant is the water snowflake which 
has small white flowers with petals like an os- 
trich feather. This requires water four to eight 
inches deep, and must likewise be kept in the 
house in winter. 

When it comes to a consideration wholly of 
water plants as garden material, separate and 
distinct from the pictorial contribution of the 
element in which they grow, the use of tubs sunk 
into the ground has much in its favor, especially 
for the small garden. They are easily acquired, 
for the first thing; each one takes care of one 



244 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

plant; and the water-flower garden is thus 
capable of expansion or contraction on the unit 
system. No system of piping is needed either 
to carry water into them or away from them, 
since they may be filled to overcome natural 
evaporation with a hose running a gentle stream, 
while they are taken up bodily and emptied as 
may be desirable. In such receptacles half or 
two thirds full of the proper soil, on which a two- 
inch layer of clean white sand is spread to pre- 
vent the water with which the tub is then filled 
from becoming turgid and muddy, it is possible 
to grow many of the loveliest water-lilies, which 
are botanically distinguished by the name 
nymphcea, and all of the lotus, which are nel- 
umbium. These last do not float their flowers 
nor their leaves upon the surface of the water, 
but lift them clear of it from three to five feet 
and send their great flowers up higher yet on 
very strong stems. 

Because of this habit of growth, nelumbiums 
are distinctly not to be used, even singly, where 
the water effect is intended; for nothing will 
keep them within bounds. They have the true 
tropical capacity for quick and assertive growth, 
and though they will not endure the northern 
winter out of doors — the tubers are dug up and 
taken inside in the fall — they advance so boldly 



WATER FLOWERS 245 

as soon as they begin growing after planting 
out, in May, that nothing else stands a show in 
competition. 

Inter(;sting these plants are without doubt, 
although the true lotus of Egypt — the sacred 
lily of the Nile — was really a blue-flowered 
nymphijea — Nymphaia coerulea — which seems 
unquestionably to have been the plant Isis is 
supposed to have pointed out to the people as 
fit for food. Its petals have been found in 
mummy cases while its leaves and flowers are 
shown repeatedly in ornament. Even the in- 
terest in nelumbiums from the legendary point 
of view abates therefore, in the light of under- 
standing; and there seems to be not a great 
deal to recommend them to the garden of to- 
day, since they are such strident specimens. 

In addition to plants of an aquatic character, 
all pools should have subaquatics in them to 
aerate the water. The best of these for small 
gardens are Washington grass — Cabomba viridi- 
folia — or eel grass — Vallisneria spiralis. One 
plant of either to every twelve to fifteen square 
feet of surface on a pool two feet deep will 
be suflScient. And of course with these as 
with all other aquatic growth, thinning out 
must be constantly resorted to if the plants 
grow unduly. 



246 COME INTO THE G.SJIDEN 

Finally, there should be fish — goldfish prefer- 
ably, since they are like nothing less than darts 
of flame beneath the waters of a pool — but any 
small fish will serve the purpose of keeping down 
the mosquito larva?, providing there are no 
shaded corners and obscure little spots into 
which the fish cannot or will not penetrate. 
Naturally in the tubs of which I have spoken, 
where plants are grown that hide the water al- 
together, a condition of shade prevails through- 
out; and in these it is extremely doubtful that 
fish will thrive. Not that they are averse to 
shade, but they must have a modicum of light 
and assuredly plenty of air. Therefore, even 
when growing plants wholly for themselves, it is 
well to keep a little of the water's surface ex- 
posed either by crowding the vegetation back 
or cutting it away as it encroaches too much. 
The allotment of fish is a pair per tub or pool up 
to twenty feet square, with a pair added for each 
additional twenty-foot square unit. This is not 
to say. however that more than this number may 
not be introduced; but twenty-five are enough 
to stock a pond seventy-five by one hundred 
feet in size. 

All water-lilies require still water; therefore 
when it is necessary to replenish a pool wherein 
they are growing, be very careful that no com- 



WATER FT.OWERS 247 

motion is made. A small stream allowed only 
to trickle in at the edge, is the proper way to 
bring the water l(3vel up when this has been low- 
ered through evaporation. And of course this 
makes it apparent that even the most gently 
playing fountain is not to be considered as a 
proper place for them, though I have seen them 
thrive where water merely overflowed not much 
more than a drop at a time from a brimming 
tazza in the middle of a pool. I would not ad- 
vise even this much activity however, where ab- 
solute certainty is desired. Absolutely still, 
warm water under full sunlight is invariably the 
best. 

The soil in which water-lilies are to be planted 
may be any good garden earth enriched with 
one fifth its bulk of well-decomposed manure, 
preferably from cow stables; or with one quart 
of bonemeal to each bushel of soil. Planting is 
accomplished by simply pushing the root, which 
is a rhizome, or elongated banana-like form, into 
the soft mud-earth in a horizontal position and 
deep enough just to cover the crown or growing 
tip. To hold it in place until growth has started 
a stone may be laid upon it; this should be 
clear of the growing tip however. Of course 
in practically every instance of planting in a 
small pool or a pool of concrete, the roots are 



248 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

set into boxes of earth and these are then sunk 
into the^ pool; but in natural pools or pools 
of a naturalistic character, without cement 
bottom, the rhizomes may be planted directly 
in the earth. 

If they require wintering indoors take them 
up as soon as frost has touched the leaves and 
replant in tubs indoors until their leaves have 
ripened off. Then the roots may be dried out 
and stored in moist sand where they can be 
kept at a temperature of about 60 Fahrenheit. 
Hardy varieties however need no care unless 
the depth of the tank is not great enough to 
insure its not freezing at the bottom if the water 
is left in. If you cannot be sure of this, it should 
be drained and the basin filled with leaves with 
boards over them to hold them in place; or, if 
the plants are set in boxes, the boxes may be 
drained and brought indoors into a cool cel- 
lar or covered up anywhere out in the garden 
securely enough to keep frost out. 

Early in this chapter I spoke of excavating 
low ground to make a pool where before only a 
bog or swampy place may have been. This is 
not an opportunity often found within the 
limits of the small garden or the village or town 
community. That it may sometimes present it- 
self however is sufficient reason for a word more 



WATER FLOWERS 249 

about it. Regardless of the conventional, and 
of the advice of well meaning but unimaginative 
people who are unable to see such a condition as 
anything but a low, unhealthy, miserable place, 
consider well the possibility of overcoming all 
the drawbacks of it by simply adopting its sug- 
gestion and going it several better. 

The task of draining and filling a bog is one 
of the most thankless as well as most uncertain 
that can be undertaken; for there are as likely 
as not springs at the bottom — literally — of the 
whole thing. If you proceed in the other direc- 
tion however, it is practically imjxjssible to go 
wrong; for the deepening of the lowest portion 
will inevitably drain into this the moisture from 
the higher ground around, and whether the 
water is from springs or from the surface only, 
it will be provided with a limited basin into 
which it will settle and remain. And this in 
turn will provide your garden with a most un- 
usual and altogether delightful feature, with the 
accompanying opportunity of growing plants 
and flowers denied to the commonplace site lack- 
ing this element. Even if the water disappears 
during midsummer, you may still have most of 
the things here listed; for all save the aquatics 
themselves will accommodate to temporary lack 
of water. For of course when this lack occurs 



250 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

on the surface there is still moisture below and 
in the ground, since all drainage is into such a 
basin. 

AVAILABLE MATERIAL 

These are plants suitable for association with 
water in the garden, or use in low, moist places. 
The selection comprises those in each class that 
have a distinct need of very moist conditions, 
and if they are used in naturally wet ground 
they will need no especial attention. If used 
near artificial pools, where the ground is not 
naturally moist, make some arrangement by 
which overflow will provide the proper condi- 
tions for them. 

TERRESTRIAL PLANTS 

Shrubs 

Groundsel tree Baccharis halimifolia 3 to 10 feet 

Sweet pepper bush Clethra alnifolia 3 " 4 " 

Marsh Mallow Hibiscus Moscheutos 3 " 5 " 

Elder Sambucus racemosa 10 " 12 " 

Button-bUsh Cephalanthus occidentalis 3 " 12 " 

Bamboos and Grasses 

Dwarf bamboo Bambusa viminalia 2 feet 

Bamboo Bambusa Metake 6 to 10 feet 

" Bambusa Simoni 15 " 20 " 

Plume grass Erianthus revennce 10 " 12 " 

Eulalia Eulalia graciUim.a univittata 5 " 6 " 

Fountain grass Pennisetum Japonicum 4 " 5 " 



WATER FLOWERS 



251 



Herbaceous Perennials 

Swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnata rosea 3 feet 

Goat's-beard Astilbe Arendai 23^ to 3 feet 

Tree Celandine Bocconia cordata 7 to 8 feet 

American senna Cassia marilandica 3 " 4 " 

Shell flower Chelone glabra 2 feet 

Thorough-wort Eupatorium ccehstinum 2 " 

Bowman's root Gillenia trifoliata 3 " 

Iris Iris ochroleuca gigantea 4 " 

Water flag Iris pseudacorus 4 " 

Japanese iria Iris Kmmpferi, all varieties 3 to 4 feet 

Cardinal flower Lobelia cardinalis 3 feet 

Meadow rue Thalictrum adiantifolium IJ^ to 2 feet 

Mauve meadow rue Thalictrum dipterocarpum 4 feet 



For Ground Cover or Margin 

Meadow beauty Rhexia virginica 9 inches 

EngUsh cowslip Primula veris 6 " 

Moneywort Lysimachia nummularia Trailing 



AQUATICS AND SUBAQUATICS 

For Tubs and Small Pools 



Japanese water-lily 

Miniature water-lily 
Blue lotus (tender) 
Water poppy 
Water hyacinth 
Blue water hyacinth 
Water snowflake 
Villarsia 

Eel grass or wild celery 
Washington grass 



Nymphasa pygmcsa 
Nymphcea pygmoea hehola 
Nymphcea odorata minor 
Nymphma cmrulea 
Limnocharis Humboldti 
Eichornia crassipes major 

" azurea 
Limnanthemum indicum 
Limnanthemum Nymphaoides 
Vallisneria spiralis 
Cabomba viridifolia 



White 

Yellow 

White 

Blue 

Yellow 

Lilac-rose 

Lavender-blue 

White 

Yellow 

(Subaquatio) 



For Naturalizing in Deep Water 

Common water-lily Nymphcea odorata White 

Large-flowered water-lily Nymphcea odorata gigantea White 

Cape Cod pink water-lily Nymphcea odorata rosea Pink 



252 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

Tender Day-blooming 

{All blue varieties are in this section) 

Cape blue water-lily Nymphcea Capenais Sky-blue 

Nymphma Daubenyana Light blue 

Nymphosa Zanzibarienaia Blue-purple 

Tender Night-blooming 
{Gorgeous and profuse-blooming, these remain open on dark days) 

Nymphma Dentata White 

Nymphcea Deaniana Pink 

Nymphcea Devoniemia Red 

Nymphcea Jubilee White-pink 



"How could such sweet and wholesome hours 
Be reckoned, but with herbs and flowers!" 

— The Garden — Andrew Marvell. 

CHAPTER XVII 

Rock Gardens and Their Plants 

THERE are four distinct kinds of rock garden; 
or perhaps it is better to say that there are 
four ways in which rocks and stones are used 
to provide special conditions wherein only 
special plants will grow, the rocks being utilized 
equally with the vegetation to produce an effect. 
The first alone is entitled to be called a rock 
garden, the second is a wall garden, the third a 
stone or flagged garden and the fourth, which is 
not a garden at all, is the rockery. Of this last 
I will say in passing that garden effect is really 
unthought of in connection with it, since it is 
essentially a botanist's or plant collector's speci- 
men cabinet, in which his treasures are pre- 
served (and maintained alive) even as the geolo- 
gist's are stored in a wooden cabinet in his 
library or laboratory. 

The rock garden is perhaps the most im- 
253 



254 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

portant — at least it is less often possible, since 
natural disposition of a terrain is essential to it, 
therefore it is rare; and rarity gives importance. 
Of it there is first of all this to be said: it is 
above all the result of making the best of things, 
of accepting and adapting to difficulties instead 
of seeking to overcome them. Or this is what it 
seems to be! Actually a true rock garden results 
from seizing a wonderful opportunity and using 
all the cunning of which man is capable not to 
impair in the slightest degree its advantages, 
while at the same time further ones are created 
so artfully that they seem also to have happened 
quite by the accidents of nature. 

No people in the world perhaps equal the 
Japanese in work of this sort (but let me say 
right here, and emphatically, that in general the 
so-called Japanese gardens seen in this country 
are not examples of this work, nor an exposition 
of the consummate garden art of Japan!), which 
requires the closest observation of natural forms 
and of minutest detail, coupled with the pa- 
tience and the skill in handling both rocks and 
plants that reproduces these forms absolutely. 
Unless we are willing to carry the work of imi- 
tation to the same high degree of perfection 
reached by the Japanese gardener, who gathers 
the mosses from around a bowlder when he is 



ROCK GARDENS 255 

about to appropriate the bowlder itself, and 
keeps these in such a way that he puts them 
back down around and against and on it in 
just the same relation they originally held, with 
every patch fitted accurately to its proper neigh- 
bor, we are bound to fall short of the exact and 
wonderful naturalism that is alone excuse for 
attempting to be natural. 

It follows moreover, where this sort of thing 
exists, or is brought into existence by artistry 
so finished, that it must be dissociated from 
every hint of a contrary element. Therefore it 
is not only seclusion from the vision of the out- 
side world that a rock garden demands, but that 
deeper seclusion that belongs to the heart of na- 
ture, as it were; the seclusion of the mountain 
top or of the deep, wild glen— a something more 
than outward hiding, a real inward solitude. 
Hence for the perfecting of a rock garden it must 
not only be undreamed of from without but it 
must leave the outside world undreamed of, 
from within. 

Within the limitations of a small place, this 
is a thing seldom possible to achieve. Where- 
fore it appears that the rock garden is not, usu- 
ally, within the possibilities of any but the larger 
places — unless an inhospitable and unfavorable 
scrap of land is acquired, which may become a 



25Q COME INTO THE GARDEN 

rock garden throughout with a suitable dwelling 
in the midst, the whole secluded from the com- 
moner elements of the world without. Now 
and then a small garden may have a corner or 
an end descending abruptly enough to allow of 
its being planted out with shrubs and trees and 
made the site of a small rock garden; and of 
course there are here and there individual op- 
portunities which cannot be foreseen or guessed 
for realization of all the ideals outlined. 

It would be idle to go on, therefore, in an at- 
tempt to consider all kinds of possibilities; so 
of the best site it is enough to add to the out- 
line already given the advice never to attempt 
to construct a rock garden where natural con- 
ditions do not suggest this kind of garden above 
all others — do not in fact seem to say clearly 
that no other kind is possible. Where the earth's 
great rock skeleton does not approach suffi- 
ciently near the surface to be recognized, it is 
distinctly an artificial enterprise that drags in 
some of its parts from elsewhere and leaves 
them wholly or partly exposed. It is indeed 
so artificial that it offends the finer sense 
of harmony and produces, almost invariably, 
exactly the effect of their having been dragged 
in! 

So much for where rock gardens do and do 



ROCK GARDENS 257 

not belong. Now a word as to handling the 
ready-made site — the rocky ledge, or the bowl- 
der strewn hillside, or the glen with a stream at 
its bottom perhaps. In general, let everything 
alone; where this cannot be done — as in the 
pathway by which one may thread between and 
over the rocks — make it seem to be a coinci- 
dence that rocks have arranged themselves con- 
veniently. Do not build a path of definite and 
uniform width, but rather provide a casual way 
by which advance may be made safely and con- 
veniently; where steps are necessary, let them 
be separated at some distance if possible rather 
than brought together in a single flight. Repro- 
duce the twistings and indirect amblings of the 
negligent walker, who invariably sets his feet 
along the easiest way whether he is going uphill 
or down; turn abruptly around the face of a 
bowlder or at the blank wall of a high rock 
against which the path seems, as approach is 
made towards it, to end. Do all of the things 
as a part of the rock garden which you would 
naturally do on a mountain ramble, in other 
words; for it is to provide such ramble, with all 
its unexpected twists and turns and delightful 
surprises, that the rock garden exists — partly. 
By which it will be seen that this is one of the 
most elusive and difficult forms of garden mak- 



258 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

ing. Do not let this deter from it, however, 
where natural opportunity is yours; and do not 
let the broad garden ideal which is here pre- 
sented minimize the opportunity that just a 
single group of rocks, big and little perhaps, may 
hold for an actual rock garden in miniature. 
Where such a group rests, naturally deposited 
or naturally uncovered by the action of the ele- 
ments, there is the suggestion for something 
special and delightful of which the gardener 
should be bold enough to take advantage. For 
it is not size that makes a rock garden any more 
than any other type; and though I have said 
that few small places boast the natural charac- 
teristics that inspire this treatment, I do not 
mean that the smallest presentation of the motif 
shall be disregarded, wherever it may offer. 

The planting of a rock garden is, to a certain 
extent, always experimental. The plants that 
haunt such spots are by nature elusive, many of 
them; and it does not diminish this quality 
to raise them in captivity. I do not mean by 
this that they lack hardiness or strong consti- 
tutions; they possess both to an unusual de- 
gree in most cases. But they are all that the 
word elusive implies — temperamental, captious 
perhaps; who shall say? To have read Maeter- 
linck's careful Intelligence of the Flowers sug- 



ROCK GARDENS 259 

gests these things, and more. And certainly it is 
well established of alpine plants generally that in 
some places they will grow exuberantly while in 
other places, seemingly no different in the least 
detail, they will not. One must plant and try 
—and if at first you don't succeed try again ! 

Rock gardening is therefore somewhat ex- 
citing; and that it does take fairly a gambling 
hold upon its devotees must be admitted. 
Whatever the final intention may be, it is best 
to begin with the easily grown rock plants — 
distinctly not of the class known as alpines but 
just common, good-natured, easy-going and 
obliging little creatures, usually anxious to 
please and eager to live. True alpines are, as 
their name implies, plants of the mountains; 
some indeed are of the mountain-tops, away 
above timber line. Their culture is one of the 
highly specialized branches of garden interest 
that enthusiasts delight in; but this is not the 
sort of interest that promotes the finest garden, 
in the general sense — for one may be ever so 
profoundly interested in plants and yet have no 
garden worthy of the name, since the concep- 
tion of a garden that the artist-gardener cher- 
ishes is always the answer to every requirement 
rather than to any one or two. 

The wall garden wherein the stone ledges of 



260 COI^IE INTO THE GARDEN 

a wall — that is preferably built against the face 
of an earth bank to retain this — are planted with 
such plants as delight to grow under the condi- 
tions thus provided, offers possibilities that are 
very welcome where space is at a premium. 
Such a wall becomes indeed a garden on end — 
in the vertical plane — where a garden on the 
horizontal plane may be altogether out of the 
question. And as with all kinds of rock or stone 
work, plants of unusual charm because of their 
unfamiliarity and uncommon use, furnish the 
planting material. 

In the construction of such a wall there is one 
thing to be kept constantly in mind: there 
must be what gardeners call clear root run from 
the earth pockets in the wall into the earth 
against which it is laid. Such root runs need not 
be straight of course, but they must be present 
throughout all portions of the wall and between 
each stone, practically. All plants will not send 
their roots back into the main body of earth, to 
be sure; but a great many — and some of these 
small, at that — will do so. It is not unusual in- 
deed for them to reach eighteen or twenty inches 
with the thread-like filaments that they put forth 
in the search for creation's everlasting neces- 
sity — food. Furthermore this contact between 
the earth pockets and the mass of earth behind 



ROCK GARDENS 261 

the wall maintains the moisture in the former 
more evenly, as it makes them really extensions 
of it rather than detached portions. Very often 
no earth whatsoever will show in the cranny 
where a plant sets up its abode, the root hold 
being wholly back of the stones. 

The stone or flagged garden is first cousin to 
the wall garden, differing in being horizontal for 
one thing, and in having well-opened interstices 
between its stones as these rest on the earth, in 
which low, spreading, trailing plants find place. 
As these overrun the stones here and there and 
fill the earth spaces with their tufty greens and 
various interesting forms, an effect altogether 
simple and quaint and lovely results; and for 
intimate and close relation with a dwelling such 
a garden, entered directly from a room perhaps 
and inclosed with a low wall, is one of the out- 
of-the-ordinary things worth having. Quite as 
effective in another way is it as a remote feature 
hidden away from the house and from every- 
thing else, to be come upon unexpectedly and 
loitered in — under the shade of over-hanging 
trees perhaps, or of vines held aloft by some 
simple form of arbor. 

To come again to the rockery, too often mis- 
taken especially in the generation going by, for 
an ornament — as well as mistakenly called a 



^0^ COME IN rO I UK GARDEN 

rock garden — let us cousider it first :is to what 
it is, and tlien as to where it should be put. I 
liave already said somethiug about its real pur- 
pM:)se and meaning — enough perhaps: but lest 
I seem to have eondeumed it out and out I wish 
to add that, where there is a collector or a 
botanist to inspire its presence or actually to 
need it, it is as legitimate a feature of a garden 
as anything else. The great trouble has been 
that its innate ugliness has never deterred from 
givmg it a prominent place — all too often the 
center of an otherwise pleasant lawn. 

That a stone pile is ugly, when it is artificially 
piled upon level gromid where no hiut of stones 
exists and when it takes the form of an absurd 
pyramid, there is no denying. I doubt indeed if 
it could take any other form and be anything 
else — but that is beside the question. Our con- 
cern is with finding a way to deal with it that 
will permit having it in a garden if it is desireti, 
without detracting from the beauty of the whole 
and without renouncing even to a shght degree 
our cherished principles and concepts. There is 
of course one way to do all of this, and only one; 
that is to set apart a place for it, and even to 
emphasize this setting apart, at the same time 
seeing to it that not until entrance is made into 
the space is its feature suspected. It nnist not 



nocK (;ari)i:ns scj.'j 

be seen from any poinf ouJsIde; but the inelo- 
sure may be made in a fasliion thai will |)i(iue 
curiosity and interest so greatly that the im- 
pulse to see what il eoiilaius is irresistible. 

Thus instead of nuniml/jng a feature ordi- 
narily ugly, and aeeepling its ugliness shame- 
faeedly, as it were, its merit apart from outward 
appearance is asserted and Its perfect ly legili- 
nuite claims to reeognilion are pressed. And 
the garden acquires something interesting aud 
annising and instructive, instead of losing in 
quality and IxMuly. 

Assuming that the form of rockery to be built 
is the common low pyramid, surround it at a 
sufficient distance from its base to i)rovide gen- 
erous walk space, with a hedge that shall be- 
come a high wall of green, through which a door- 
way shall give entrance from without. By door- 
way I mean an arched opening through it, in- 
stead of merely a break in the planting as com- 
monly allows passage to a walk — an opening 
over which the hedge is carried just as a high 
wall is carried straiglit along, regardless of en- 
trance through it. Outside of this hedge masses 
of shrubbery may quite disguise the round 
temple form, if so desired; or the entire form 
may be revealed as an axial feature at the end 
of a long path, perhaps. It is capable of several 



264 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

interpretations as far as these details are con- 
cerned; and thus interpreted there is nothing 
faintly akin to the horror of the old rockery 
anywhere discoverable. 

It is not invariably necessary to resort to the 
pyramid of stones, however, for these separate 
rock pockets which provide just the special 
conditions that plants from the opposite ends 
of the earth require. Sunken rockeries are some- 
times built, with steps leading down into them 
and planting at the top of the banks that hides 
them completely; a circular form may be used 
also, either with or without a mound at the cen- 
ter, around which the walk passes. Such a one 
sometimes is made wholly on the surface of the 
ground, and sometimes is wholly lowered into 
the ground; in either case a small goldfish basin 
or bird pool at the center will increase the in- 
terest, especially to the average visitor who is 
not a botanist or collector. There is in fact no 
rule against making even the simplest rockery, 
built for the sole purpose of growing special 
plants, as attractive as ingenuity and imagina- 
tion permit; but even when it is thus handled, 
remember that it is still a showcase, and as such, 
entitled to the special distinction (if it seems 
more considerate to put it this way) of a place 
by itself. It is a wholly unnatural feature; 



ROCK GARDENS 265 

never attempt to naturalize it, and never at- 
tempt to bring it into the ensemble. Neither 
can be done nor even attempted without disas- 
ter all the way around. 

In planting either a rock garden, a wall gar- 
den, or a rockery always bear in mind that ex- 
posure is of the greatest importance. Never put 
plants on a bank exposed to the south if they 
belong to the list of those succeeding under 
northern exposure. This often accounts for a 
specimen remaining alive only as long as it takes 
to plant it. For though it may seem only a 
small point it is vital — as will appear readily 
enough when one recalls how long a patch of 
snow will last on the north side of a hedge or a 
fence or mass of shrubs, as compared to one on 
the south side. The continuous direct rays of 
the sun are as fatal to those plants that have 
been evolved in shade or part shade as shade 
and its accompanying chill are to the sun-loving 
plants; and this is not altogether on account of 
the heat involved but because of all the accom- 
panying phenomena. 

PLANTS FOR ROCK AND WALL GARDENS 

Northern Exposure or in Shade 

Prostrate and Carpet-like 

Starry grasswort Cerastium arvense White 

Woolly grasswort Cerastium tomentosum " 

Bugle weed Ajuga reptans Blue 



266 



COME INTO THE GARDEN 



Moss pink 


Phlox subulata 


White, pink, mauve 


Arenaria 


Arenaria montana 


White 




Maiden pink 


Dianthus deltoides 


Red 




Ground-hele 


Veronica officinalis 
Erect 


Pale blue 




Saxifrage 


Saxifraga Virginiensis 


White 


9 


Cuckoo flower 


Cardamine pratensis 


Pink, white 


20 


Thrift 


Armaria maritima 


Pink 


12 


Red baneberry 


Actea spicata, rubra 


White 


20 


White baneberry 


Actea alba 


White 


20 


Wild Columbine 


Aquilegia Canadensis 


Red, yellow 


20 


Snakeroot 


Asarum Canadense 


Brown 


5 


Harebell 


Campanula rotundifolia 


Blue 


12 


Bishop's cap 


Mitella diphylla 


White 


6 


Douglas's Clematis 


Clematis Douglasii 


Lavender 


15 


Pasque flower 


Anemone patens 


Lavender-pink 


6 



Hoary speedwell 
Creeping speedwell 
Wall pepper 
Live-forever 
Stone-crop 
House-leek 
Rock cress 
Dryas 



Southern Exposure or in Sunlight 
Prostrate and Carpet-like 

Veronica alpina 



Veronica repens 
Sedum acre 
Sedum ternatum 
Sedum hybridum 
Sempervivum tectorum 
Arabis albida 
Dryas octopetala 



Blue or violet 
Bluish white 
Yellow 
White 
Yellow 
Pale red 
White 
White 



Bellflower 

Butterfly weed 
Barrenwort 

False miterwort 

Tunica 

Mad wort 



Evergreen candytuft Iberis sempervirens 



Erect 

Campanula Carpatica Blue S ins. 

Campanula rhomboidalis 10 " 

Asclepias tuberosa Orange 18 " 

Epimedium macranihum White or red 12 " 

Epimedium, Musschianum Yellow 12 " 

Tiarella cordifolia White 12 " 

Tunica saxifraga Pink 12 " 

Alyssum saxatile Yellow 12 " 

6 " 



White 



"Here is the place where Loveliness keeps house, 
Between the river and the wooded hills, 
Within a valley where the Springtime spills 
Her firstling wind-flowers under blossoming boughs; 
Where Summer sits braiding her warm, white brows 
With bramble roses, and where Autumn fills 
Her lap with asters, and old Winter frills 
With crimson haw and hip his snowy blouse." 
— "Here is the Place . . . ." — Madison Cawein. 

CHAPTER XVIII 

Wild Gardens and Wild Flowers 

THERE is perhaps no better definition of the 
wild garden than the simple statement that 
it reproduces Nature with her own materials. 
As distinguished from the naturaHstic garden, it 
does not entertain hybrid forms nor improved 
forms of any plant, nor does it admit — in its 
rigid interpretation — plants from another clime. 
It is composed wholly of aboriginal species and 
kinds, in other words; hence it is the one gar- 
den that, once established, may be left to itself 
— save for such elimination of weeds as all 
gardens must have, occasionally. In one wayjt 
may be said to seize the materials at hand and 
267 



268 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

reject all others; but this would presuppose 
material at hand and would imply that a wild 
garden can only be created where conditions 
generally are wild. 

Of course this is not absolutely true, for a 
kind of wild garden may be set up almost any- 
where; that is, wild flowers may be domesti- 
cated and induced to grow in a bricked-in, shut- 
in, city plot. But note that this is not after all, 
a wild garden, but rather a wild-flower garden 
— which is a distinction expressing a great dif- 
ference. For a wild garden reproduces the spirit 
of the wilderness in every part and is not, as a 
matter of fact, dependent upon its flowers for 
its effect — though these must, of course, bear 
out the concept and harmonize with it. And 
thus a wild garden can have no design, as such, 
and must happen by chance to a large degree. 
Close study of wild groupings and of possible 
effects by means of combinations as these occur 
in a natural state, together with an unusually 
deft hand for imitation, are the essentials to 
success in the creation of a true wild garden; 
and further than to point this out and to offer 
a few general suggestions I cannot pretend to go 
in helping (on paper) to the realization of this 
type of garden. 

Many cultivated plants will run wild, as the 



WILD GARDENS 269 

saying is, if they are given a chance in congenial 
environment. That is, they will forge ahead 
and crowd out every other kind that is less 
adapted to the situation and less aggressive, and 
will multiply until they finally take complete 
possession of the space that they covet because 
of its congeniality. Yet this does not fit these 
plants for use in the wild garden any more than 
it makes them truly wild; for it is an unques- 
tionable fact that plants long cultivated have 
taken on an elusive something — comparable per- 
haps with the finish that culture brings to man 
— that sets them out of harmony with wilderness 
conditions in a subtler way than the mere asso- 
ciation of ideas could involve. 

By which it appears that there is more to this 
subject of wild flowers and wild gardens than 
at first meets the consciousness; which makes it 
the more interesting and worth looking into. 
But it is something which each must find out 
for himself, after a certain point is reached; so 
without going further along this line I will only 
say that the wild garden, as a definite concept 
in garden making, involves a certain sense of law- 
lessness and struggle in the vegetation gracing 
it — not struggle carried to the point of positive 
destruction as in a state of nature, but stopping 
just short of this. The bountiful and aggres- 



270 COME INTO THE GAEDEN 

sive growth of the plants in a wild garden is held 
just within bounds by the gardener, as a matter 
of fact, who sets limits and maintains fair play 
by force of his authority, in order that he may 
enjoy a greater number of kinds assembled to- 
gether than would otherwise be possible within 
the prescribed limits. That this is what the 
gardener does in any kind of garden — no more, 
no less — simply indicates further that it is the 
way in which these plants are assembled, quite 
as much as the kinds of plants, that we have to 
consider. Their associations are equal in im- 
portance to themselves, and the disposition and 
character of paths, trees, shrubs, stones and 
every possible element must be in harmony — 
the whole conveying a sense of solitude and 
really virgin retreat. 

It is manifestly impossible to hypothesize all 
the circumstances, places or conditions that will 
invite the development of a wild garden. Such 
conditions exist sometimes in the midst of seem- 
ingly the most uncordial spots and again they 
are absent when it seems perfectly logical to ex- 
pect to find them. In general I may say that 
very often it is the place that seems pretty hope- 
less from the gardening viewpoint, that may be 
properly devoted to the creation of a wild gar- 
den. Sometimes it is the grade irregularities 



WILD GARDENS 271 

that discourage endeavor, sometimes rough 
ground configuration generally and perhaps the 
presence of large trees and of undergrowth. 
Building plots at the edge of woods or sidling 
down into a gully may be suited to nothing else 
but a wild garden — probably will be; but this 
is not to say that now and then a plot that is 
neither of these may not have in and about it 
other elements that make it congenial ground 
for this treatment. 

One must judge for himself; always with the 
ideal of accepting Nature's suggestion however, 
and never with the purpose of forcing the issue. 
Certainly all connection with tamed or culti- 
vated lands must be avoided; and certainly 
there must be no hint whatsoever, within a wild 
garden, of any of man's usual enterprises. If 
these two conditions can be met anywhere, the 
wild garden will not be an anachronism; but 
if, by reason of any element in the surroundings 
of a place, such absolute sequestration is out of 
the question, the wild garden should be aban- 
doned for a concept in harmony with unyielding 
conditions. 

This is no more than is true of the rock garden, 
or of a water garden on naturalistic lines. It is 
indeed the one thought reiterated perhaps to a 
wearisome degree, in every chapter — that there 



272 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

must be harmony between tlie garden concept 
and all outlying conditions, unless outlying con- 
ditions can be obliterated. And this is nothing 
more nor less, of course, than recognizing the 
moods of nature and of earth, and adopting 
them by adapting to them. Wliere it is pos- 
sible to run counter to outside conditions by 
shutting them out completely — and desirable 
perhaps, as a walled garden in the heart of city 
congestion — it may of course be done; and with 
results that count above all others sometimes, 
in the way of refreshment and solace. But as 
we are here concerned with the typical rather 
than the exceptional, I must not only rigidly as- 
sert the limitations, but presuppose them; which 
I can do in a broad sense only by demanding 
generally harmonious conditions or such seclu- 
sion as I have described. 

Starting with the materials which are at hand 
— assuming that the site and conditions invite 
the wild garden — the whole procedure becomes 
an enterprise of almost moment by moment in- 
spiration; for one thing suggests another, and 
these in turn reveal possibilities of still another, 
and so it goes. I am not going to deal so much 
with the entirety, therefore, as with the possible 
materials which will compose it; the trees and 
shrubs, the earth corrugations, the stones and 




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WILD GARDENS 273 

stumps, mosses, lichens, and the flowers — last, 
but neither least nor most. 

Of trees there must be enough for partial 
shade at least, and if it is wholly shady it will 
be no disadvantage. Given a site otherwise 
suitable, minus trees, the first thing to do there- 
fore will be to introduce these; not a great 
number perhaps, but enough to shelter and 
seclude a portion of the space. And these trees 
will necessarily be native kinds, and of these 
not a wide assortment. Mingled together trees 
grow in the woods, to be sure; yet within 
small space there will be only two large grow- 
ing kinds perhaps, with some lower growth, 
such as dogwood beneath them. Keep to this 
standard, using any trees native to the section. 

Of wide distribution are maples, beeches, the 
ash, the oak, the hickory, the sassafras, the elm, 
the tulip tree, the wild cherry, plum, thorn, 
and birch; and any one of these may be chosen 
therefore. Inasmuch as the wild cherry, the 
sassafras, and certain of the birches are perhaps 
less esteemed as landscape material, these are 
less often seen in artificial plantings and are con- 
sequently in closer association with wilderness 
in our thought; so choice might well fall on one 
or two of these. Wild plum in a suitable variety 
and. thorn will serve as underplanting, prefer- 



274 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

ably placed to give the effect of being pushed 
back from the central glade or more open 
space. 

Trees cannot be set out however until the 
various natural advantages and disadvantages 
of the land itself have been considered and their 
treatment decided upon. Where rough ground 
exists the best course usually is to let every- 
thing alone as nearly as possible, as in the 
natural rock garden. But here also, as in the 
rock garden, it is sometimes possible and highly 
desirable to emphasize what actually is only a 
very slight feature, thus turning it into a strik- 
ing one. 

Thus a bank may be created where only a 
slight dip exists; or a tree growing pictur- 
esquely away from the perpendicular through 
some mischance may be brought into promi- 
nence by stripping away growth that obscures 
its peculiarity. A stump offers opportunity for 
evolving sometimes a seat, sometimes a natu- 
ral bird basin; a dead tree trunk standing in- 
vites a native vine like the clematis of our 
woods, or the wild grape or woodbine or bitter- 
sweet — or fallen it may become a chief feature 
by disposing it a little differently if need be, to 
make it a seat or to bridge a depression. The 
suggestions lying in the place itself and in such 



WILD GARDENS 275 

objects as may be found therein alone can de- 
termine these details, obviously. 

Stones scattered about may be assembled, not 
to form a rockery by any means, but to con- 
form to such a general scheme as a bird basin 
or a seat or a campfire site may involve. For 
although the wild garden should be eloquent of 
solitude and have the virginal quality I have 
suggested, it is of course understood that this 
remains to it because of the finished artistry 
with which such things as seats and shelters and 
bird basins are developed and introduced and 
not because they are omitted. It should not 
lack anything that may enhance its entertain- 
ing charm; but it must remain wild in aspect 
notwithstanding. It is the use of materials that 
are found on the spot that helps largely in this; 
but unless they are used with such cleverness of 
imitation that it hides cleverness and allays sus- 
picion of imitation, they will still fall short of 
producing the desired result. 

Under most conditions conceivable I would 
not advise such a thing as a retaining wall of 
stone to hold up a bank in a wild garden. Yet 
if this will improve a situation and if it can be 
built so naturalistically that it will take on the 
appearance of just a mass of rocks pushed up 
from below, against which the earth has seeped 



276 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

in in the slow processes of time, there can be 
no objection to using it. Of course it will not 
be of the type seen in other kinds of places; and 
if a tree of crooked aspect can be planted in a 
crevice of it, so much the better. 

The use of stone is an art in itself — particu- 
larly the use of it to produce natural effects. 
Without going into the kinds which it may be 
desirable to assemble together and the kinds 
which should be excluded, it is enough to say 
that stones from below the surface of the ground 
are not usually weathered to the degree neces- 
sary for the best results. Select, therefore, from 
on top of the ground, or from a creek bed; and 
consider color combinations and the delicate 
tones which fungi bring to them more even 
than you consider form. There will always be 
found a way to get stones together, whatever 
their form; but nothing will alter the raw effect 
of stones that have not been exposed to the ele- 
ments. And of course seats or bird basins in 
the wild garden ought never to be of artificial 
material. Make these things of stones or of 
stumps or fallen trees, as suggested — or else do 
not have them at all. 

For the wild garden it is not possible to de- 
termine as exactly as a planting plan involves, 
the position of plants — therefore it is practically 



WILD GARDENS 277 

impossible to make such a plan, or to work to it 
if it is made. But the space can be laid off in a 
general way, according to exposure, shade, and 
soil conditions or character; and on these plot- 
tings it is well to write in the kind of plants that 
may be used. For example, none of the heath 
family — of which rhododendrons, laurel, the 
huckleberries and azaleas are familiar members 
— like an alkali or limestone soil; certain other 
wild flowers prefer cool roots but sun on their 
heads; still another lot will have none of it at 
all, while there are many who rejoice in nothing 
save the driest and hottest places available. 
Plot the garden space out and mark it with just 
these key words — "shade," "hot sun," "part 
shade," "lime," "acid," "wet." Then you are 
ready to begin selecting either from the cata- 
logues or from the woods themselves, the plants 
that are to go into it. 

If you go to the woods, always exercise re- 
straint in gathering material, unless they are 
woods that will soon be obliterated altogether. 
From such localities there seems justification for 
regarding it as a rescue of doomed plants instead 
of wanton disregard of forest law to take as 
many as possible into the shelter of a wild gar- 
den — but certainly not from anywhere else. 
Either buy from the specialists who grow this 



378 iXniK INFO lllK G.VRDEX 

olass of uiatoriaL or olsc tako only a spcvliuoii 
luTo and thoro. aiui thou Nvith duo rogard to 
doiuii' tho ouos loft no injury. For although tho 
\vild tiowors that will naturali:-o in tho gardon 
aro sturdy and son\otin\os rampant iirowors. it is 
truo that tho ohoioost aro olusivo and highly 
susooptiblo to injury and that, through tho oart^ 
lossiioss of oolUvtors who injiiro porhaps an on- 
tire stand in taking a spooin\on. man}- aro 
rapidly Invoniiug oxtinot. 

It is possiblo and of oourso highly dosirablo 
to carry bloom throughout tho spring, sunnnor, 
and autumn with just wild tlowors. although wo 
do commonly associate thom with the vernal 
season especially. This is perhaps btvause the 
first comers tind us more eager for signs of awak- 
ening vegetation, while later on so much engages 
attention there is no time for all. ('•f the plants 
given, the season of bloiMu is given also, together 
with the preference for sun or shadc^' — -where 
such preferenco exists — but T have made no 
special distinctions as to soil, since all except 
the heaths will accommodate then\selves usually 
to ordinary oonditions below ground. 

Of these it is understood that leaf mold such 
as they dwell in when growing wild, formed by 
the annual deposit on the ground of the leaves 
of the forest — which also serve as a general 



WILD (;AIU)ENS 



279 



mulch (hiriun' tlio winlcr to kcop out tlic cold, 
aiul a root inulcli duriufj;' tlio sunimor to kcop 
out tlio hoal froui the roots — is tlioir ro(iuire- 
uiout, with never a bll ol' hine nor of eouiiuereial 
fertilizer used around tiiein. To superinduce the 
acid soil which they revel in, the waste from a 
cider press is sometimes resorted to, and with a 
high deforce of success apparently. This cannot 
he used t)n (he surface of I he ground of course, 
but may be turned in as manure is, and well 
covered; and the plants set out afterward. 



PLANTS FOR THE WILD GARDEN 

Spbino and Eakia' Summer Flowerh fob Shade 



Adder's UmKVio 

Ani>m»no(woiMl) 

Arlnitus 

Kolhvort (or 

"Wild oats") 

Hloodroot 

Biinchborry 

Clintonia 

False Solomon's seal 

Fo.'iiuflower 

Golden seal 

O round lily (or 

Wake-robin) 

.I;vok-in-t.he-puIpit 

I,iverl(';vf 

May apple 

Milkwort 

Mitrewort (fringed) 

I'appot)so root 

Partridge berry 

Pipsissowft 

Ruo 



Eriithron iitin A mrricanum 
-i nemone iiuinqurfolia 
Epigwd rcprns 
Uimlana grandijlora 
Uimlaria pfrfoliala 
Saiiyitinarin Cdiiadensis 
Comas Canadensis 
Clintotiia horealis 
Smilacina rticemosa 
TiareUa cordifolia 
Hydrast is Can ade nsis 
Triliiuni erecturn 
TriUium !iraiuiij!orn>n 
Ariswmti triphyllum 
Hepatica Irilolut 
Podi>phi/Uum pcllalum 
Poli/ijala paitcifolia 
Mitella diphi/lla 
Caulophj/llum thaliclr aides 
Mitchella repens 
Chimaphila maculata 
Thalictntm dioicum 



Yellow 


(> inohoa 


White 


4 " 


Pink 


Prostrate 


Yellowish 


15 inches 


Pale yellow 


10 " 


Pinkish white 


8 " 


White 


8 " 


Green-yellow 


2 feet 


Greenish white 


3 


Wliite 


12 inches 


Greoniah-whito 


10 " 


Purple 


12 " 


White 


12 " 


Purplish green 


12 " 


Lavender 


6 " 


White 


18 " 


Rose-purple 


6 " 


White 


6 " 


Yellow-green 


2 feet 


Pinkish white 


Trailing 


White 


(> inches 


Purpliah 


2 foot 



280 



COME INTO THE GARDEN 



Saxifrage 


Saxifraga Virginiensis 


White 


12 inches 


Shooting star 


Dodocatheon Media 




Purplish 


18 " 


Shortia 


Shortia galacifolia 




White 


6 " 


Snakeroot (Canada) Asarum Canadense 




Brown 


Low 


Snakeroot (Seneca 


) Polygala Senega 




White 


12 inches ■ 


Spring beauty 


Claytonia Virginica 




Rose 


Low 


Toothwort 


Dentaria diphylla 




White 


10 inches 


Violet (blue) 


Viola cucullata 




Blue-purple 10 " 


Violet (downy) 


Viola pubescens 




Yellow 


10 " 


Violet (wild) 


Viola Canadensis 




Purplish white 12 " 


Late Summer and Autumn 


Flowers for Shade 


Aster (blue) 


Aster cordif alius 


Blue 




4 feet, bushy 


Aster (white) 


Aster divaricatus 


White 


3 feet, slender 


Aster (panicled) 


Aster paniculatus 


White, purple 


3-6 feet 


Aster (smooth) 


Aster IcBvis 


Blue-violet 


2-4 feet, slender 


Baneberry (red) 


Actma spicata, rubra 


White 


2 feet 


Baneberry 


Actcea alba 


White 


18 inches 


Bugbane 


Cimicifuga racemosa 


White 


3-8 feet 


Coltsfoot 


Galax aphylla 


White 


12 inches 


Cowslip (Virginia) 


Mertensia Virginica 


Purple 


2 feet 


Dog fennel 


Aster ericoides 


White 


3 feet, bushy 


Gentian (closed) 


Gentiana Andrewsi 


Blue 




15 inches 


Solomon's seal 


Polygonatum biflorum 


Greenish 


12 " 


Twisted-stalk 


Streptopus roseus 


Rose-purple 


18 " 


Spring and Early Summer Flowers for 


Sunlight 


Dutchman's breeches Dicentra cucullaria 


White 


8 inches 


Iris (dwarf) 


Iris verna 




Violet-blue 6 " 


Iris (crested) 


Iris cristata 




Blue-white 3 


Lily (meadow) 


Lilium Canadense 


Yellow-red 2 to 4 feet 


Lupine 


Lupinus perennia 




Blue 


1 " 2 " 


Pink-root 


Spigelia marilandica 


Red 


1 " 2 " 


Squirrel xorn 


Dicentra Canadensis 


Green-white 8 inches 


Late Summer and Autumn Flowers for 


Sunlight 


Bedstraw 


Galium boreale 




White 


1 to 3 feet 


Butterfly-weed 


Asclepias tuberosa 




Orange 


2 feet 


Button snake-root Liatris scariosa 




Rose-purple 2 to 4 fset 


Cardinal flower 


Lobelia cardinalis 




Vivid red 2 " 4 " 


Compass plant 


Silphium perfoliatum 


Yellow 


5 " 7 y 


GoldenTod 


Solidago Canadensis 


Yellow 


4 feet 



WILD GARDENS 



281 



Goldenrod 
Goldenrod (fragrant) 
Great lobelia 
Joe Pye weed 
Lily (Turk's cap) 
Lily (wood) 
Milkweed (swamp) 
Oswego tea 



Solidago nemoralis 
Solidago odora 
Lobelia siphilitica 
EupatoTium purpureum 
Lilium superbum 
Lilium Philadelphicum 
Asclepias incarnata 
Monarda didyma 



Allegheny plum 

Appalachian tea 

Azalea (smooth) 

Azalea (clammy) 

Bayberry 

Great laurel 

Hazelnut 

Laurel 

Red osier 

Rhodora 

Shadbush 

Sheep-berry 

Witch-hazel 



Shrubs 

Prunus Allegheniensis 
Viburnum cassinoides 
Azalea arborescens 
Azalea viscosa 
Myrica cerifera 
Rhododendron maximum 
Corylus Americana 
Kalmia latifolia 
Cornus stolonifera 
Rhododendron Canadense 
Amelanchier Botryapium 
Viburnum Lentago 
Hamamelis Virginiana 



Yellow 


2 to 3 feet 


Yellow 


3 feet 


Light blue 


2 to 4 feet 


Purple 


4 " 10 " 


Orange-red 


3 " 6 " 


Red-orange 


2 feet 


Rose-purple 


2 " 3 " 


Scarlet 


2 " 3 " 



Any soil 12 to 15 feet 
Any soil 6 " 12 " 

Part shade 8 " 20 " 

Moist places 4 " 8 " 

Sandy soil 4 feet 

Shade 6 to 30 feet 

Shade or sun 3 " 8 " 
Shade 4 " 10 " 

Shade or sun 8 feet 
Moist places 3 " 

Shade or sun 12 to 15 feet 

Part shade 20 " 30 " 

Moist, shade 25 feet 



"Prayer and praise in a country home. 
Honey and fruit; a man might come. 
Fed on such meats, to walk abroad. 
And in his orchard talk with God." 

— Of an Orchard — Kathaeine Tynan. 

CHAPTER XIX 

Garden Fruits of Tree and Bush 

THERE are many times good and sufficient 
reasons why a garden shall not be planned 
to produce vegetables, notwithstanding all there 
is to be said of obligations and responsibilities 
— and this I am perfectly willing to grant. But 
there is never any reason why even the tiniest 
garden shall be unproductive in the matter of 
fruit — and nothing that can be planted yields 
such generous returns on the money, time, and 
space devoted to it. Furthermore, no fruit 
that can be had from the markets ever equals 
in quality the fruit that may be grown in the 
private garden, for the simple reason that com- 
mercial growers never raise the choicest vari- 
eties. It is with fruits, when grown commer- 
cially, as with vegetables; certain requirements 
282 



FRUITS FOR SMALL GARDEN 283 

must be met, owing to the exigencies of ship- 
ping and storing and what not, and flavor and 
quahty must be sacrificed to these else the rais- 
ing of fruit for sale would not be profitable. It 
is no exaggeration therefore to say that no one 
knows the true flavor of a really fine apple or 
peach who has never picked one of the superla- 
tive varieties from the stem and eaten it on 
the spot! 

Of all the fruits of the northern hemisphere 
the apple is justly the most popular, since it is 
the most abundant, most permanent, and most 
useful to the greatest number. An apple has 
two-thirds as much nutriment as a potato; and 
down to the very last bit of skin every one is 
usable, for even windfalls and imperfect speci- 
mens will yield a delicious beverage and as fine 
a vinegar as can be produced. Apples the year 
around are possible, by selecting the right va- 
rieties; and this is true of even the small gar- 
den, since the dwarfed trees may be used in 
these. Fortunately the nurserymen of this 
country have learned how to grow these dwarf 
forms — importation being at present prohibited; 
and they will of course continue to grow them, 
for the demand for them grows apace. 

Standard apple trees require to be set from 
thirty -five to forty feet apart; that is, a stand- 



284 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

ard tree's spread is estimated to be that at 
maturity. It will occupy, in other words, about 
one thousand square feet. As a dwarf tree oc-. 
cupies but fifty square feet — they require to be 
set no more than eight feet apart, hence this 
amount is taken as the diameter of their circle 
— it is apparent that twenty dwarfs might be 
set in the space of a single standard. We may 
reduce this twenty per cent to allow for waste 
space, and set the number at sixteen. Depend- 
ing upon the variety, the tree's age, and the 
season, standard apple trees yield from twenty 
to thirty-five bushels of apples a year, on the 
average. Dwarf trees, well tended and brought 
up to their maximum, will produce when ma- 
ture from two to three or more bushels an- 
nually. Therefore it appears there is not only 
the advantage of having several varieties but 
actually of quantity of fruit, favoring the use 
of dwarfs. The actual saving in space is not, 
moreover, shown by these figures, for dwarf 
trees may be planted in rows and in restricted 
areas where a standard tree could not be used 
at all. Indeed they are useful as shrubbery, if 
no other space is available in which to put them. 
But remember always that they require proper 
care and pruning and spraying. 

The only fruits available in dwarf form are 



FRUITS FOR SMALL GARDEN 285 

apples and pears. But the other tree fruits are 
not of such large growth as the standard apple 
tree, even the largest — the cherry — taking on 
more the character of an ornamental tree in 
those varieties which attain any considerable 
size. This, in fact, may very well be used in place 
of a purely ornamental tree for shade, since it will 
thrive without the special attention other fruit- 
ing trees need. And inasmuch as cherries are 
increasingly difficult to obtain in quantity from 
market, of late years, and as they make really 
splendid trees as they age, I would most cer- 
tainly advise planting at least one of the old- 
fashioned pie cherry trees, invariably. 

It is with the rarer fruits, however, that the 
greatest personal rewards lie, for the private 
garden. Peaches are of course obtainable in 
market, but never in choice varieties. Plums 
sometimes appear, but of doubtful quality; nec- 
tarines and apricots are unknown save here and 
there — yet how delicious they are, and how 
easily grown too, as a matter of fact ! Wherever 
peaches are hardy, both apricots and nectarines 
are; but as they also are naturally early bloom- 
ers, the great difficulty in growing them is the 
premature start that they make under our pre- 
cocious springs. The trees themselves are not 
killed, but annually their fruit buds are; for 



286 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

starting to swell the instant the warm sun of 
late winter shines on them, they are nipped by 
the frost of early spring. 

The only means of overcoming this general 
tendency is to select a site for trees of this 
species which is unfavorable to the very early 
development of their flower buds. It is never 
the warm corners that they should have, with 
full sun, but the chilly places and northern ex- 
posure. This does not mean of course that full 
exposure to the roughest winds of winter is 
proper, but it does mean that the tendency to 
coddle must be inhibited. Perhaps the best 
place for either the apricot or the nectarine is 
trained in the old-world fashion on a garden 
wall or the side of a building. But this should 
never be of southern exposure. Rather let it 
be west or north, with protective branches of 
evergreens set up, if it is the latter, to screen it 
from the strongest of winter winds — or even a 
screen planting of evergreens inclosing the site 
at some distance to protect it from hard winds 
at any time. This is indeed a wise protection 
of all ftuits of the stone class — save the cherries, 
which are hardy enough to endure anything. 

Peaches, apricots, and nectarines require 
practically the same soil, being close relatives; 
this should preferably be light and sandy and 




As the twig is bent the tree is inclined whatever it may 
be — wherefore a fruit tree growing on a wall is easy to 
acquire providing a proper start is made early in its life 



FRUITS FOR SMALL GARDEN 287 

not over enriched. In fact strong and rich 
lands are a disadvantage, since they promote a 
luxuriant growth of wood and top and the 
strength of the tree goes into this at the expense 
of fruit. Not much manure is to be applied, 
therefore, at any time; but always potash in 
the form of hardwood ashes, and phosphate in 
the form of ground bone, these two elements 
being the special foods which build up strong 
wood and fruit and nourish flowers. 

The nectarine is a smooth-skinned fruit re- 
sembling a plum very much more — to the lay- 
man — than it resembles a peach. It is of the 
latter species however, regardless of appear- 
ances — for nectarines have been grown from 
peach seeds and peaches from nectarines 
through the process scientifically distinguished 
as bud variation; which is proof conclusive. Its 
flesh is yellowish green, very tender and of 
sweet, rich flavor; and there are of course differ- 
ent varieties as of other fruits. Like the peach 
these are early and late, the former ripening in 
August usually while the latter are perhaps ten 
days to a fortnight later. Apricots are one of 
the most decorative of trees in flower, one va- 
riety being grown in Japan — their native land 
— just for its bloom. They like a soil that is a 
little heavier than the peach and nectarine 



288 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

thrive on, but otherwise their requirements are 
the same. The fruit, famihar enough in its 
dried form, is dehciously sweet and dehcate 
when eaten from the tree. It comes moreover 
between the cherries and the peaches, when gar- 
den fruit is scarce. 

Of all fruits in the world the quince is to me 
the most beautiful in bloom — and one of the 
loveliest in fruit and one of the most delicious, 
when properly handled. One or two quince 
bushes backing a shrubbery border — or as many 
as there may be space for — furnish a display of 
bloom more gorgeous than anything else of the 
same size or same period; and indeed more gor- 
geous than almost any shrub, at any time. 
Great single pink blossoms like wild roses, cov- 
ering every branch until they look more like 
huge bouquets than like shrubs or bushes, dis- 
tinguish this from everything else; and the only 
thing comparable to a quince bush in bloom is an 
apple tree — or perhaps a flowering dogwood. 
The fruit is of course quite impossible to eat in 
the raw state; but as it is one of the most de- 
licious of all when properly cooked (and that 
means cooked sloioly until it is the color of rich 
port wine) its failure to tempt from the tree may 
very well be regarded as an advantage — espe- 
cially if the situation is exposed! 



FRUITS FOR SMALL GARDEN 289 

Fruit trees benefit by cultivation and atten- 
tion quite as positively as do vegetables or 
flowers, even though they will grow after a fash- 
ion, and bear fruit, without it. With the 
dwarfed trees it is essential, since the severe 
pruning to which these are subjected during 
their early years — and annually as well, since 
pruning alone will keep them down to the proper 
buds and branches to insure a good yield of 
fruit — depletes their vitality, and only studied 
feeding will overcome this. Where it is possible 
to place fruit trees along the boundary of the 
vegetable garden, preferably on the north side 
in order that they shall not deprive the vege- 
tables of full sun, this is an excellent place for 
them ; for it makes very little extra tillage neces- 
sary, since they benefit by all that is done for 
the vegetables, as well as by the fertilizer ap- 
plied to the garden space. 

The bush fruits lend themselves to wall or 
fence training in a way that is almost never 
taken advantage of, unfortunately. By allow- 
ing space for them flat against the garden wall 
or a boundary fence, a great number may be 
accommodated without interfering in the least 
with anything else. Blackberries and rasp- 
berries are naturally in need of support, and 
their long canes are never better supported than 



?90 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

when fastened against the flat surface of wall or 
fence. This also keeps them from reaching out 
in the exasperating fashion they have, to hook 
themselves upon the unwary passer-by; and as 
the plants must be gone over annually to remove 
old wood, and to take out weak new wood — 
leaving about six canes to a plant — the labor of 
fastening the branches up is really not to be con- 
sidered as an extra. They must be handled 
anyway. 

Currants and gooseberries may be grown be- 
tween the rows of fruit trees in a garden made 
up wholly of fruits; or they too may take their 
place along a boundary. Currants do better in 
shade, hence are especially suited to under- 
planting between trees. Gooseberries like par- 
tial shade, but do better if this falls on them 
during the hottest part of the day from a build- 
ing rather than from trees; hence they are not 
quite as well for planting in the midst of trees, 
though it may be done. Both of these fruits 
prefer a deep, rich, moist, cool soil; and to in- 
sure this coolness at their roots it is always well 
to mulch them during the summer with grass 
clippings, especially in the warmer sections. 

Grapes should always be used as abundantly 
as possible, for in addition to being a highly 
valuable food, they furnish one of the most or- 



FRUITS FOR SMALL GARDEN 291 

namental shade plants that there is, properly 
supported on arbor or trellis. And they may be 
grown of course where nothing else finds room, 
if space is so restricted; give a vine root-hold 
and a porch or vertical trellis to cHmb on, and 
it will do the rest. 

Each section of the country has of course 
varieties of every fruit that for one reason or 
another are preferred there. To advise for all 
sections therefore is obviously impossible; but 
I have chosen a few of each of the standard 
fruits which are of finest quality where they 
will grow, as an example of the choice I would 
suggest. In any section it is always well to 
have a list gone over by the nearest Experiment 
Station, in order to be sure of its suitability for 
that particular region; but always explain, in 
requesting them to do this, that it is quality you 
are seeking and not varieties which will excel in 
productiveness alone. 

CHOICE VARIETIES OF FRUITS 

Apples 

The soil in which apples do their best is inclined towards clay, 
but in the private garden practically any good average soil will 
be perfectly aU right. A hillside provides desirable conditions 
for an orchard, usually, owing to the better drainage. Apples 
must always be sprayed to keep them in good condition. 



292 



COIVIE INTO THE GARDEN 



Summer Varieties Fall Varieties Wiiiter Varieties 

Red Astrachan Duchess of Oldenburg Winter Banana 

Yellow Transparent Gravenstein StajTnan's Winesap 

Early Harvest Mcintosh Red R. I. Greening 

Northern Spy 
King 
Pears 

A rather hard clay soil suits pears better than any other, as it 
is desirable for them to make their growth slowly in order to in- 
sure strong fiber in their wood. Pears require spraying also. 



Early 


Medium. 


Late 


WUder 


Seckel 


Anjou 


Clapp's Favorite 




Winter Nelis 



Peaches 

Light sandy soil is best suited to the peach and to its close rela- 
tives, the Apricot and Nectarine. Spraj^ing is necessary to keep 
these in health and insure perfect fruit. 



Early 


Medium 


Late 


Greensboro 


Globe 


Stump the World 


Belle of Georgia 


Early Rivers 
Apricots 


Stevens Rareripe 


Alberge de Montgamet 


Moorpark 




Nectarines 




Early Violet 


Elruge 



Cherries 

Sweet cherries prefer a light, rather dry, but retentive soil. 
Sour cherries like more moisture and will do well in the heavier 
land. 

Sour Siveet 

Montmorency Robert's Redheart 

English Morello Windsor 



FRUITS FOR SMALL GARDEN 293 



Plums 

Practically any good soil suits the plum, though if it inclines 
toward heavy it may be more favorable. They produce larger 
fruit, it is claimed, when mulched as they like moisture retained 
at tlieir roots. The Japanese varieties are inferior in flavor 
though very prolific. For the private garden therefore I do not 
advise them. 



Purple 


Red 


Yellow 


Apple 

Fellenburg 

Damson 


Bradshaw 
Lombard 


Imperial Gage 



Quinces 

These should be sprayed the same as apples and pears, as the 
same insects attack them, causing wormy or distorted fruit. Any 
ordinary soil suits them. 

Meech's Prolific Champion 

Currants 
Red White Black 

Fay's Prolific White Grape Black Naples 

Perfection 

Gooseberries 

These require high and abundant fertilizing. 

Downing Josselyn Red Jacket 

Raspberries 
Red Black 

St. Regis (everbearing) Plum Farmer 

Blackberries 

Eldorado, Early Harvest; also the Lucretia Dewberry, the 
Himalaya berry and the Loganberry. 



294 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

Gbapes 
Any good soil suits the grape, but extra feeding and mulch will 
improve it greatly — especially if water is supplied at the roots. 



led-purple 


Blue-black 


White 


Lindley 


Worden 


Niagara 


Brighton 







"The sturdy seedling with arched body comes, 
Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs." 
— Putting in the Seed — Robert Frost. 

"Could I but show to you the cabbages which mine own 
hands have planted in my garden at Salona, you would no 
longer urge me to relinquish the enjoyment of happiness 
for the pursuit of power." — Diocletian's answer to Maxi- 
mian when urged to resume the Imperial purple. 

"He who sows the ground with care and diligence ac- 
quires a greater stock of religious merit than he could 
gain by the repetition of ten thousand prayers." — The 
Zend- A vesta — Zoroaster. 



CHAPTER XX 

The Vegetable Garden 

AND here at the last we come to the first 
. kind of garden that was made — whether we 
speak in the figurative language which places 
stem necessity just outside the gates of Eden and 
consequent upon a certain lady's misadventure 
with an apple, or in the more prosaic terms of 
anthropology. For man planted and tended 
food plants ages and ages before he dreamed of 
troubling himself with tending a rose — or even 
295 



296 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

an apple tree or a berry bush. Apples grew 
wild on many a tree, and berries on wild bushes, 
and were his for the picking; but turnips and 
cabbages and all that sort of thing had to be 
watched over and guarded from prowling beasts, 
as well as from over-admiring neighbors as the 
tribe increased. So it was with such as these, if 
not with these themselves, that he first busied 
himself. 

Speaking of which it is perhaps of interest, in 
connection with the serious consideration of the 
vegetable garden which befits our time and 
generation, to note that the aboriginal form of 
the cabbage — brassica oleracea — which grows 
wild on the sea cliffs of western and southern 
Europe and the chalk cliffs of the English Chan- 
nel, and which is the progenitor of all forms of 
cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and sprouts, was with- 
out doubt an important article of food in the 
diet of the barbarians first occupying these re- 
gions; for "when history begins it had already 
been transferred to cultivated grounds and had 
begun to produce dense rosettes or heads of 
leaves." 

This great plant family — Brassica — is in- 
digenous indeed throughout the temperate re- 
gions of the old world, and includes all the mus- 
tards and the turnips as well as the cabbages; 




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THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 297 

hence it is a logical inference that accords it 
patriarchal honors among all the tribes that 
have been drawn upon to contribute to our food 
supply — whether we individually cherish a taste 
for it in any of its forms, or not. And it is 
further one of the most important vegetable 
families of the present; and will always so re- 
main beyond peradventure. 

The introduction of the potato, this hemi- 
sphere's great sixteenth-century contribution to 
the world's food sources, did of course reduce 
the almost complete dependence of Europeans 
upon the turnip as a staple of their own diet, 
however much they still required it for their 
stock. Yet while John Winthrop was Governor 
of the New England Colony it was the latter 
that still held first place. And as a matter of 
fact the potato did not come into general use 
until about 1800, in the northern part of the 
world, at any rate. Native to South America, 
as is the sweet potato also, it is surely one of the 
whims of fate that brought it to these shores by 
way of the Spanish adventurers, who first took 
both kinds home to Spain! And "Spanish po- 
tatoes" they were, these good white potatoes 
loved by all the world to-day, for a long time; 
and for long were a "despised root" according 
to one old authority. 



298 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

Do I digress? Seemingly — but deliberately, 
let me confess. For we have too generally 
shifted the vegetable garden into the discard, 
if it has been considered at all. It is despised, 
in short, instead of being honored; and I aim to 
see it restored to its proper elevation in the 
general garden concept. For if this is not done 
by those whose opportunities have developed in 
them discrimination and taste, and recognition 
of values as well as the sense of responsibility, 
it will fall more and more under the ban in the 
minds of that great mass who advance only by 
imitation — and who imitate the least admirable, 
more often than not. So to the end that it 
may be thus elevated, I have gone afield to point 
out its ancient lineage and its true aristocracy. 
It occupies indeed the place of touchstone in 
modern gardening, by which sincerity shall be 
revealed as well as gauged. Let this never be 
forgotten. 

Let us moreover never confuse this obligation 
to pjoduce — and to apportion land so that the 
productive garden is a'ccorded a worthy place — 
with the cost, in money terms, of the product. 
We have learned — or we have failed! — that it 
is not the money that food costs, but the food 
that counts in the last analysis. To be able 
to show actual food returns is therefore of far 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 299 

greater importance than to show advantages in 
cost reduction, since production is the real basis 
of economic advance in any field of endeavor, 
and never the cheapness of the product. 

It is understood, therefore, that I do not urge 
the vegetable garden as a feature of any place 
for the (problematical) results in saving money 
on vegetables; but that my urgence is based on 
that stewardsliip which I mentioned in the be- 
ginning. The determination to give a good ac- 
counting involves the neglect of no part — and 
least of all the neglect of so vital a part as the 
vegetable, or in the older terminology, the 
kitchen garden. Remembering that for long it 
entertained all that there were of flowers, and 
these only because they were used in flavoring 
or for distillation, we may easily restore its an- 
cient prestige by restoring these — if it seems 
necessary to do this. But introduced in the 
right way and in the right relation in the gen- 
eral design, I contend that the modern kitchen 
garden needs nothing more than an understand- 
ing of its place and purpose and of its harmony 
with all the rest, to restore it to its own. 

It must be approached practically however; 
and as the most impractical method of handling 
it is to overdo it, it follows that the most prac- 
tical approach is the one that will insure doing 



300 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

just enough — if such a thing is possible. Tests 
have resulted in establishing that it is. It is in- 
deed quite as possible to estimate how much, 
of each thing will be wanted during an entire 
year as it is to figure out an allotment of fuel; 
and further, to go back from this, and on the 
basis of estimated yield ascertain the number 
of hills or rows or plants of a given kind neces- 
sary to produce, within a few quarts or pounds, 
the required amount. Let us not start with 
generalities, therefore, but rather by determin- 
ing first how much is wanted of each thing, and 
how much must be planted to yield this amount. 
Then keep the kitchen garden within these limits. 
As a starting point we may take the three 
hundred and sixty-five days of the year which 
are to be supplied with materials for three meals 
each, per person. I will suggest eighteen stand- 
ard vegetables to draw on, exclusive of salads, 
onions, and potatoes. These are beans, beets 
cabbage, carrots, celeriac, corn, cucumbers, egg- 
plant, kohlrabi, lima beans, okra, parsnips, peas, 
salsify, summer squash, spinach, tomatoes, and 
turnips. If allowance of one vegetable at din- 
ner in addition to potatoes is made, it will 
mean a little more than twenty servings of 
each one of these during the year — or of course 
forty servings if two meals are being allowed for. 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 301 

This brings the estimate to the point where 
each household must answer for itself the ques- 
tion of a "portion." It varies of course with 
different households and individuals; yet it is 
no great problem in mathematics to arrive at 
it, for any. If three bunches of beets, for ex- 
ample, or twelve ears of corn, are provided for 
a menage of six persons, it means that two 
beets or two ears of corn are a single portion; 
wherefore the twenty portions of the year will 
be forty beets and forty ears of corn. Going 
thus through the entire list of vegetables that 
are to be planted, it is easy to arrive at ap- 
proximately the proper total of every one; and 
from this the necessary amount for any house- 
hold is discoverable by a very simple sum in 
multiplication. 

A tabulated list of the vegetables suggested 
is given, to aid in arriving at an estimate of the 
amounts to be planted — which of course in its 
turn determines the space to be devoted to the 
entire project. It is not based on a single serv- 
ing of each vegetable on twenty days of the 
year, but upon the doubling of this — that is, 
upon serving each one forty times. And of 
course it is to be understood that the perishable 
vegetables which cannot be canned are to be 
used during their season, while those which 



302 



COME INTO THE GARDEN 



may be preserved are put away against the sea- 
son when nothing is available from the garden. 
As to the list itself, if put to practical usage, 
favorites may be increased in quantity, while 
those that do not recommend themselves are 
correspondingly decreased. 

QUANTITY OF VEGETABLES TO PLANT PER PERSON 

On the basis of eighteen kinds, each of which shall be served forty 
times during the year. At least one half of all produced, with the 
exception of the root crops, is to be canned or dried for winter. 
Production is to be kept up by close picking, which induces further 
bearing. All vegetables (except parsnips and salsify, which re- 
main in the ground to be frozen in order to bring them to their 
full flavor) should always be picked before fully mature, to be at 
their best. The length of rows given is of course approximate. 





Amount 


Space to 


Distance 


Vegetable 


Needed 


Plant 


Apart in Rows 


Beets 


80 plants 


15 feet 


4 inches 


Carrots 


80 " 


25 


4 " 


Turnips 


40 " 


12^ " 


4 " 


Parsnips 


60 " 


20 


4 " 


Salsify 


80 " 


20 


3 " 


Beans (pole) 


20 quarts 


2 hills 


3 feet 


Cabbage 


5 plants 


8 feet 


18 inches 


Corn 


80 ears 


25 


10 " 


Peas 


4 pecks 


60 


6 " 


Kohlrabi 


80 plants 


25 


4 " 


Tomato 


90 fruits 


3 plants 


3 feet 


Eggplant 


10 " 


2 " 


3 " 


Squash 


10 " 


1 vine 


hills 4 feet 


New Zealand Spinach 


5 pecks 


20 feet 


18 inches 


Okra 


10 quarts 


20 " 


2 feet 


Lima beans 


10 " 


4 hills 


poles 3 feet 


Cucumbers 


90 fruits 


3 hills 


hills 4 feet 


Celeriac 


80 plants 


25 feet 


4 inches 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 303 

It is a point of great importance to select 
varieties of each kind that will give the greatest 
yield consistent with highest quality, in small 
space. I speak especially and emphatically of 
this because the most prolific varieties are 
usually of the market gardeners' "quality"— 
which means that actual quality has been sac- 
rificed to four things that market gardeners 
must have — or believe they must have — above 
all else, namely: earliness, shipping substance, 
tremendous yield, and fine appearance. If fine 
flavor accompanies these, it is so much ^ain ; if 
it does not, it matters not to the commercial 
grower ! In choosing seeds therefore avoid those 
kinds of which it is said they are favorites with 
truckers. Seek quality first and after this 
abundance — and forget the rest. 

Without going over the devious ways by 
which the conclusion has been arrived at, I 
will say that six hundred square feet of ground 
will produce, under intensive cultivation, all 
the vegetables, including potatoes, that one 
adult will require for one year. As the latter 
vegetable occupied one third of this space — in 
the tests — it follows that four hundred square 
feet will suffice if potatoes are not to be grown; 
wh'.ch reduces itself to a plot of ground twenty 
by twenty feet in size. Adding to this a fair 



304 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

percentage for wastage, we may say that 
twenty-five by twenty-five feet is a generous 
unit per person, as the basis for estimating 
the amount of land it will be necessary to cul- 
tivate and give over to vegetables in maintain- 
ing a kitchen garden consistent with the de- 
mands of any given household. If potatoes are 
to be included in the list of vegetables grown, 
it is of course proper to grow them all together 
(in rows running the longest way of their sec- 
tion for convenience in tillage) on a separate 
allotment of two hundred square feet or a plot 
ten by twenty feet in size, for each individual. 

In the preparation of the ground for the 
kitchen garden the advantage of using only the 
smallest area consistent with the needs of a 
household begins to be apparent. For both 
labor and fertilizers are concentrated, and the 
groimd benefits accordingly — as well as the gar- 
dener. It is from every side therefore the part 
of wisdom to reduce the problem to its lowest 
common denommator; and to locate the space 
which is to be devoted to this extremely inter- 
esting and worth-while project where every ac- 
tivity connected with it will be best and most 
conveniently served. Wherefore it appears that, 
in the beginning, one must consider every end; 
and, as I have earlier and repeatedly pointed 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 305 

out, must design all together and with due re- 
gard for every part. 

Of actual vegetable culture it is not, perhaps, 
my part to say a great deal here, yet of the ap- 
proach to this phase of garden making I may 
appropriately speak, since it is a part of general 
garden operations. Briefly, the steps to be 
taken are five in number: the measuring off 
of the plot and staking out, with allotment for 
paths and for any special features that may be 
intended; the applying to the ground thus set 
apart of fertilizer, preferably ill the shape of 
well decomposed stable manure; the plowing 
or spading up, during which this is turned 
under; the application to the upturned and 
broken ground of a dressing of lime; and finally 
the harrowing or raking of all this surface until 
it is broken and fine and mellow for the recep- 
tion of the seed. 

^ Of the first — the staking out of the ground — 
let it be remembered that primarily it is to 
grow vegetables, and to grow them of the finest 
quality and to the highest point of develop- 
ment, with the least expenditure of effort. It 
must be brought to the point of highest effi- 
ciency, in other words — which implies that the 
gardener who tends it shall be able to manipu- 
late his tools with perfect freedom and shall not 



306 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

have his efforts impeded by any outside con- 
siderations. This demands the ehmination of 
what some so enthusiastically recommend as 
an ornament to the vegetable garden; namely, 
the flower border. For a border of flowers 
crossing the ends of the vegetable rows means 
that, in passing from row to row with his wheel 
hoe, the gardener must always be hindered by 
the necessity of avoiding them. Even though 
he does not work with a wheel hoe — ^but how 
shall that be! — he still must watch his step as 
he approaches the end of each vegetable row, if 
the flower border is allowed. 

Unquestionably the best vegetable-garden 
layout does not admit a border of any kind, 
unless this is wholly outside of the vegetable 
space, as in the case of its being on the outer 
side of a walk which extends around the gar- 
den. Such a walk is excellent; for crossing the 
ends of the rows it affords just the turning space 
which the gardener needs, whatever implement 
he is handling. Whatever the garden space, 
therefore, secure if possible this feature of a 
walk at the ends of the rows. If these are more 
than fifty feet in length it is well also to break 
them by a walk midway; for of some things con- 
siderably less than fifty feet of row will serve 
ordinarily. Avoid unusual forms in the layout 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 307 

of the space, and always plant in rows rather 
than in beds. There ought of course to be a 
seed-bed space; and also space for hotbeds and 
coldframes, if full provision is to be made for 
the best work. But these are all assembled 
along one end or side, with the permanent veg- 
etables for their neighbors — such things as as- 
paragus and rhubarb — and so do not break up 
the main portion of the garden. This avoids 
interference with the permanent things when 
plowing is done, and preserves the units of the 
garden in the proper and efficient manner. 

Whatever may be said, or may have been 
said at any time by anybody, of other fertil- 
izers, nothing will ever supersede stable manure. 
Green manures should be used also, in the form 
of cow-peas, vetch, or rye, sown broadcast when 
the garden is harvested, to be plowed under 
with the coming of spring again; but the short- 
season of growth which intensive gardening al- 
lows these is not sufficient to provide, through 
them, all that the ground needs. Of commer- 
cial fertilizers always remember that, though 
they do what is claimed of them in many in- 
stances, they do it at tremendous expense to the 
land — and their use must be constantly carried 
on, once it is adopted. Whereas in countries 
as densely populated as China, farming and gar- 



308 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

dening of the most intensive character have been 
practiced for thousands of years without a par- 
ticle of these synthetic plant foods. 

Ground bone, dried blood, and such products 
are not in this class of course. It is to those 
combinations of chemicals by which many — 
including many who should loiow better — set 
such store, that I refer. If land is well manured 
annually, lightly limed annually, and worked 
deeply before planting, and constantly on top 
after vegetation makes its appearance, it will 
produce without the stimulation which chemi- 
cals give it; and it will not become exhausted, 
no matter how many crops are taken from it, 
nor how abundant these may be. 

The vegetable garden space ought never to 
receive less than four inches depth of manure 
each spring — and more in the beginning if it is 
poor land. This should be applied evenly as 
early as possible (not however in the autumn 
before!) and of course plowed under, or turned 
under by spading if it is a small garden plot, 
as soon as the ground is in condition to do this 
work. The best way of deciding as to when this 
time has arrived is to walk onto the ground and 
see whether it packs or not. As long as it is 
"mud" or even wet enough to be pressed down 
and printed by the foot, it is too wet to be 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 309 

touched — and too wet to be walked about on, 
as a matter of fact. For nothing will work more 
lasting damage for the season than such packing 
of the garden soil into lumps in the spring. 

Clods formed in this way simply cannot 
be eradicated all summer long, since they will 
take on almost the hard baked character of 
bricks. Actually the ground is not ready for 
working until a handful of it, squeezed ener- 
getically, crumbles apart when the hand is 
opened. Never let the forehandedness of an- 
other drive this from mind — for the garden that 
is not worked until it is fully ready, nor planted 
until the ground is warm and mellow, will grow 
enough faster to catch up with, and often to 
pass, the garden that is worked a little in ad- 
vance of the safe season. 

Plowing or spading, whichever method is 
used to break the ground up in the spring, 
should be deep — eight inches at least, twelve if 
possible. The latter is I know, even in agricul- 
tural operations, a greater depth than is usually 
considered possible; but if ground is worked 
over by hand, it is quite possible — and though 
it may be difficult, it is worth the effort, in al- 
ternate years at any rate. For a deep seedbed 
means plenty of deep moisture for the growing 
plants; and moisture deep down is food, since 



310 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

only in liquid form is it possible for them to take 
nourishment at all. If ever so great efforts are 
made in the way of providing them nourishment 
therefore, and this one thing of keeping the 
moisture in the ground to hold it in solution is 
neglected, they must starve. 

After the plowing comes the lime — and annu- 
ally, enough of it to cover the ground lightly. 
Never be beguiled into a generous application 
one year in the hope of saving work the next; 
but put it on every year, in the proportion of 
about five pounds to one hundred square feet. 
Spread it as evenly as possible; and then pro- 
ceed to the harrowing or raking which shall in- 
corporate it with the soil at the surface, and at 
the same time shall break up all lumps and 
fine this upper layer until it is ready for the 
seed, and for the cordial encouragement of the 
tiny rootlets that must needs penetrate it in all 
directions when the seeds sprout. 

Finally, let me urge orderliness in the planting 
of the seed. It has been said to me by a few 
successful gardeners — successful in that they 
are able to raise a great many things by spread- 
ing them over a great deal more land than is 
necessary — that straight rows and care in the 
matter of sowing seed are all nonsense. But 
such measure of success as comes with disorder 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 311 

comes because of the abundance of nature and 
never through the intelHgence of the gardener. 
And this is not the kind of gardening that we 
of to-day can be satisfied with. The kitchen 
garden deserves as much care to make it beau- 
tiful through perfect order, and through exact 
hnes which express such order, as any other 
kind of garden or section of the garden. Dis- 
regard of these features is largely responsible 
for its disrepute, as well as for the slovenly care 
that it so often receives. Wherefore, observa- 
tion of them will scatter both the indifference 
that results in neglect, and the disdain that 
scorns the finer attributes of appearance; and 
thus we shall not only bring the vegetable gar- 
den into its proper place of honor, but we shall 
add to all the rest that a garden means a happy 
consciousness of obligations discharged even as 
they are continually reincurred. 



312 COME INTO THE GARDEN 



"Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God wlio made him sees 
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his 

knees, 
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands 

and pray 
For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away! 
And ihc Glory of the Garden it shall never pass aicay!" 
— The Glory of ilw Garden — Kipling. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 
\ 

Part I 

CHAPTER 

h The Garden's Place in Civilization j 
History of Gardening in Eng- 
land Amherst 

An Encyclopaedia of Gardening Loudon 
Old-fashioned Gardening . • Tabor 
Gardens Ancient and Modern . Dent 

II. TOSTTION AND PlAN OF THE HoUSE 

Village Improvement . . . Farwell 

The Home Grounds, Bulletin 

361 Cornell University 

The House Livable Series . . Putnam, Publisher 

Economic Study of Farm Lay- 
out Cornell Univeesty 

Town Planning; Past, Present, 

and Possible Triggs 

Ill.-Vni. (inclusive) 

Landscape Gardening Studies Parsons 

Landscape Gardening . . . Root & Kelley 
Home Landscape Gardening 

Books The Garden Press 

The Ideal Garden .... Thomas 

How to Plan the Home Grounds Parsons 

Practical Landscape Gardening Cridl.\nd 

IX. Pl.\nting and Maintenance 

Manual of Gardening . . . Bailey 

Four Seasons in the Garden . Rexford 

Amateur Gardencraft . . . Rexford 

The Pruning Manual . . . Bailey 



314 COME INTO THE GARDEN 

Part II 

CBAFTBR 

X. Tkees and Their Purpose 

Manual of the Trees of North 

America Sargent 

Care of Trees Fernow 

The Romance of Our Trees . Wilson 
Field Book of American Trees 

and Shrubs Matthews 

Key to Trees Collins & Preston 

Our National Forests (forestry 

study) Boerker 

American Forest Trees (lumber 

study) Gibson 

XI.-XII. 

Same as under III.- VIII. 

XIII.-XIV. 

A Woman's Hardy Garden . . Ely 

Home Floriculture .... Rexford 

The American Flower Garden . Blanchan 

Let's Make a Flower Garden . Rion 
Color Schemes for the Flower 

Garden Jekyll 

Hints on the Growing of Bulbs Dreer 
Continuous Bloom in America . Shelton 
Annual Flowering Plants, Bul- 
letin 1171 Cornell University 

My Garden Wilder 

XV. Roses and Their Special Culture 

Roses (historical) Pemberton 

The Practical Book of Outdoor 

Rose Growing Thomas 

American Rose Society Annuals 

XVI. Water Features and Water Flowers 

Water Garden (Issued by Dreer) 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 315 

CHAFTBB 

Water Lilies and How to Grow 

Them Hus & Conard 

The Book of Water Gardening . Bisset 

X"VII. Rock Gardens and Their Plants 

Rock Gardening for Amateurs . Thomas 

XVIII. Wild Gardens and Wild Flowers 

The Wild Garden Robinson 

XIX. Fruits for the Small Garden 

The Principles of Fruit Growing Bailey 

Bush Fruits Card 

The Principles and Practice of 

Pruning Kains 

XX. The Vegetable Garden 

Vegetable Gardening .... Green 

Home Vegetable Garden . . Rockwell 

/ The Home Garden .... Rexford 

The Book of the Home Garden Ftjllerton 

The Principles of Vegetable 

Gardening Bailey 

Also for General Reference: 

Diseases of Truck Crops and 

Their Control Taubenhaus 

Manual of Fruit Insects . . Slingerland & 

Crosby 

Injurious Insects Kane 

Spraying of Plants .... Lodeman 

Garden Guide De la Mabe 

The Garden Primer (elemen- 
tary work) Tabor 

Garden Steps (elementary for 

children) Cobb 

The Complete Garden (material 

for all sections) Taylor 

Johnson's Gardeners' Diction- 
ary Johnson 



INDEX 



Abelia, 75, 175 
Acer, 152 
Aconitum, 197 
Actsea, 197, 266, 280 
Actinidia, 68, 75 
/Vdder's tongue, 279 
Adonis, 197 
Ageratum, 199 
Ajuga, 198, 199, 265 
Akebia (akebi), 208 
Alder, 180 

Alkanet (Italian), 199 
Allegheny plum, 281 
Alpines, 259 
Althea, 199 
Alyssum, 199, 266 
Amelanchier, 152, 281 
Ampelopsis, 202, 206 
Anchusa, 199 
Andromeda, 175, 176, 179 
Anemone, 197, 198, 266, 279 
Annuals, 183 
Antirrhinum, 199 
Aphids (plant lice), 136 
Appalachian tea, 281 
Apple, 147, 283, 285 
Apricot, 286, 287 
Aquilegia, 197, 266 
Arabis, 266 
Arbor, 89, 93, 209 



Arborvitse, 67, 75, 161, 162, 
163 

Arbutus, 279 

Arbutus (bush), 175 

Arch, 103, 111 

Arenaria, 266 

Arisaema, 279 

Armeria, 266 

Aronia, 180 

Asarum, 266, 280 

Asclepias, 266, 280, 281 

Ash, 273 

Ash (mountain), 153 

Aster, 197, 198, 280 

Astilbe, 198 

Azalea, 175, 179, 277, 281 

Baneberry, 184, 197, 266, 

280 
Barberry, 75, 177, 180 
Barrenwort, 266 
Bayberry, 281 
Beard tongue, 198 
Bedstraw, 280 
Bee (honey), 138 
Beech, 69, 127, l48, 273 
Bellflower, 197, 198, 266 
Bellwort, 279 
Benzoin, 180 
Berberis, 75, 177, 180 



318 



COME INTO THE GARDEN 



Biennials, 183 
Birch, 127, 273 
Bird bath, 94, 95, 96, 97 
Bird's eye, 198 
Bird house, 95 
Bishop's cap, 266 
Bittersweet, 274 
Blanket flower, 198 
Bloodroot, 279 
Bluebells, 197, 199 
Blue spruce, 154 
Bog, 248, 249 
Boltonia, 189, 197 
Bordeaux mixture, 136 
Border, 187 
Boston ivy, 202, 208 
Boxwood, 75, 178 
Brassica, 296 
Brickwork, 78, 112 
Buckthorn, 180 
Buddleia, 179 
Bugbane, 280 
Bugle, 198, 199, 265 
Bunchberry, 279 
Burning bush, 180 
Bush arbutus, 175 
Bush clematis, 199 
Bush fruits, 289 
Buttercup, 189 
Butterfly shrub, 179 
Butterfly weed, 266, 280 
Button snakeroot, 280 

Cabbage, 296 
Cabomba, 245 
Calliopsis, 199 
Calluna, 175, 179 



Campanula, 197, 198, 266 

Candytuft, 266 
Cardamine, 266 
Cardinal flower, 1 97, 1 98, 280 
Carnation, 199 
Casino, 89, 93 
Catchfly, 199 
Caulophyllum, 279 
Ceanothus, 179 
Cedar (red), 159, 161 
Cedar (white), 159 
Cement, 77, 112 
Centaurea, 199 
Cerastium, 265 
Cherry, 285, 292 
Cherry (wild), 273 
Chimaphila, 279 
Chionanthus, 152 
Chokeberry, 180 
Christmas berry, 180 
Chrysanthemum, 197, 198, 

199 
Cimicifuga, 197, 280 
Claytonia, 198, 280 
Clematis (bush), 199, 266 
Clematis (vine), 205, 208, 

209, 274 
Clethra, 180 
Clintonia, 279 
Clover, 189 
Coal ash, 139 
Coleus, 184 

Color, 189, 190, 191, 192 
Coltsfoot, 280 
Columbine, 184, 197, 266 
Column, 89, 102 
Compass plant, 280 



INDEX 



319 



Conifers, 156, 162, 173 
Coreopsis (annual), 199 
Coreopsis (perennial), 198 
Cornel, 177, 180 
Cornelian cherry, 180 
Cornus, 153, 180, 279, 281 
Corylus, 281 

Cotoneaster, 175, 176, 179 
Cow-peas, 307 
Cowslip (Virginian), 280 
Crataegus, 152, 179 
Crimson-glory vine, 209' 
Crocus, 184 
Cuckoo flower, 266 
Currant, 116, 290 
Cypress, 162 

Daffodil, 184, 197 

Daisy, 189 

Daphne, 175 

Day lily, 184, 197, 198 

Delphinium (annual), 200 

Delphinium (perennial), 

197, 198, 199 
Dentaria, 280 
Deutzia, 180 
Dianthus, 266 
Dicentra, 280 
Dictamnus, 138 
Diervilla, 179 
Digitalis, 198 
Dodocatheon, 280 
Dog fennel, 280 
Dogwood (cornel), 153, 161 
Dryas, 266 

Dutchman's breeches, 280 
Dwarf fruit, 115, 283, 284 



Eel grass, 245 
Elder, 179 
Eleagnus, 75 
Elm, 148, 273 
Entrance, 85, 107 
Epigsea, 279 
Epimedium, 266 
Erythronium, 279 
Eupatorium 281 
Evergreens, 127, 128 
Evonymus, . 175, 179, 

180 
Exotics, 151 
Exposure, 18 

False mitrewort, 266 
False Solomon's seal, 197, 

279 
Faun, 115 

Fence, 69, 70, 71, 72 
Fertilizer, 138, 307, 308 
Fire thorn, 179 
Flag-stone garden, 261 
Floss flower, 199 
Flower beds, 185 
Foam flower, 279 
Forsythia, 179 
Fountain, 89 
Foxglove, 198 
Fringe tree, 152 
Fruit lists, 291, 292, 293, 

294 
Fungicide, 135 
Funkia, 197 

Galax, 280 
Galium, 280 



320 



COME INTO THE GARDEN 



Gaillardia, 198 
Garland flower, 175 
Gas plant, 198 
Gateway, 87, 112 
Gazebo, 89, 113 
Gentian, 280 
Geranium, 184 
Giant bellflower, 189( 
Ginkgo, 121^ 
Globe flower, 197 
Goldenrod, 280, 281 
Golden seal, 279 
Goldfish, 246 
Gooseberry, 116, 290 
Grape, 116, 209, 290 
Grape (wild), 274 
Grass, 141 
Grasswort, 265 
Gravel, 78 
Great laurel, 281 
Great lobelia, 281 
Grojind-hele, 266 
Ground lily, 279 



High-bush cranberry, 177 
Holly, 75, 175 
Hollj^hock, 184, 185, 199 
Honeysuckle (bush), 28, 75, 

117 
Honeysuckle (vine), 202, 

204, 207, 208, 209 
Hop-tree, 152 
House-leek, 266 
Huckleberry, 277 
Hydrangea, 180 
Hydrastis, 279 
Hypericum, 180 

Iberis, 266 

Ilex, 175, 176, 179, 180 

Indian pink, 197 

Inkberry, 174 

Insecticide, 136 

Insects, 135, 136, 228 

Iris, 184, 197, 198, 199, 

280 
Ivy (English), 203 



Hamamelis, 281 
Harebell, 266 
Hazelnut, 281 
Heath family, 277 
Heather, 175, 179 
Hedera,' 203 
Hedge material, 75 
Hemerocallis, 197, 198 
Hemlock, 87 
Hepatica, 279 
Herm, 95, 102 
Hesperis, 199 
Hickory, 148, 273 



Jack-in-the-pulpit, 279 
Joe Pye weed, 281 
Juniper (Juniperus), 159, 
161, 163 

Kalmia, 175, 179, 281 
Kerosene emulsion, 135 
Kitchen garden, 304, 311 
Kudzu vine, 202, 208 

Larkspur (annual), 200 
Larkspur (perennial), IS?., 
199 



INDEX 



321 



Laurel, 175, 176, 179, 277. 

281 
Lawns, 140 
LeucothcE, 179 
Liatris, 280 
Ligustrum, 75 
Lilac, 164, 179 
Lily (lilium), 197, 280, 

281 
Lily-of-valley shrub, 175, 

179 
Lime, 139, 141, 310 
Lime-sulphur spray, 135 
Live-forever, 266 
Liverleaf, 279 
Lobelia, 197, 198, 280, 281 
Lonicera, 202, 207 
Lotus, 245 
Lupine (lupinus), 184, 197, 

198, 280 
Lychnis, 199 

Madwort, 199, 266 
Mahonia, 175, 176, 179 
Maidenhair tree (ginkgo), 

121 
Maiden pink, 266 
Manure (stable), 139, 140 
Manure (green), 307 
Maple, 152, 273 
Marigold, 200 
Marilandica, 197 
Mass planting, 167 
Matthiola, 200 
May apple, 279 
Meadow sweet, 197 
Mertensia, 197, 199, 280 



Milkweed, 281 
Milkwort, 279 
Mitchella, 279 
Mitella, 266, 279 
Mitrewort, 279 
Mock orange, 179 
Monarda, 281 
Monkshood, 197 
Mosquito, 98, 246 
Moss pink, 266 
Mountain ash, 152 
Mullein pink, 199 
Myrica, 281 

Nectarine, 286, 287 
Nelumbium, 244 
New Jersey tea, 17P 
Nymphaea, 245 

Oak, 148, 161, 273 
Oregon grape, 175, 179 
Ornamental trees, 148, 150, 

273 
Oswego tea, 281 

Pappoose root, 279 
Partridge berry, 279 
Pasque flower, 266 
Peach, 285, 286 
Penstemon, 198 
Peony (pseonia), 184, 189, 

197, 198 
Perennials, 183 
Pergola, 92, 93, 209 
Pests, 135, 136, 228 
Philadelphus, 179 
Phlox (annual), 199 



322 



COME INTO THE GARDEN 



Phlox (perennial), 184, 197, 

19S. 199, 266 
Photinia. ISO 
Pieris. 179 
Pink-root, 280 
Pipsissewa, 279 
Plan (garden), 30, 34, 38, 

42, 106, 108. 114 
Plan (house), 20, 30, 34, 38, 

108, 114 
Plantiiin lily, 197 
Planting, 118, 188, 196 
Plant lice, 136 
Platycodon, 199 
Pluiii, 273 
Podophyllum, 279 
Polygala, 279, 280 
Polygonatum, 280 
Pool, 235. 238 
Poplar, 121 
Poppy, 198 
Potato, 297 
Privet, 63, 64. 75, 87, 115, 

180 
Pruning, 65, 66, 67, 121, 

122, 132, 229 
Prunus, 281 
Ptelia, 152 
Pueraria, 202 

Quince, 288 

Red osier. 281 
Retinospora. 162, 163 
Rhammis. 180 
Rhododendron. 127, 173. 
174, 177, 277, 281 



Rock cress, 266 
Rockery. 261, 262, 263 
Rock garden material, 265, 

266 
Root system, 120 
Roots,' 118 

Rose classification, 214 
Rose (climbing), 116, 117, 

207 
Rose hip, 178 
Rose (hybrids), 177 
Rose lists. 230, 231 
Rose (wild), 177 
Roses : 

China or Bengal. 216, 226 

Hybrid Perpetual, 215 

Hybrid Tea. 216 

Multiflora. 226 

Native wild, 227, 228 

Noisette, 226 

Rugosa, 217 

Soil for, 220 

Tea. 216 

Wichuraiana, 225 
Rue, 279 
Rye, 307 

Salvia, 184 

Sambucus, 179 

Sanguinaria. 279 

San Jose scale. 135 

Sassafras. 273 

Saxafrage (saxafraga), 197, 

266. 280 
Scale insects. 136 
Screen planting, 165 
Sculpture, 90 



INDEX 



323 



Seat (garden), 93 
Sedum, 199, 266 
Seed, 141 

Sempervivum, 266 
Service berry, 152 
Shadbush, 152, 281 
Shade, 148, 149, 150 
Sheep-berry, 281 
Shooting star, 280 
Shortia, 280 
Shrubs, 153, 160, 165, 179, 

180 
Shrubs (evergreen), 175, 

176, 177, 179 
Silene, 199 
Silphium, 280 
Smilacina, 197, 297 
Snakeroot, 197, 266, 280 
Snapdragon, 199 
Snowball, 164 
Snowberry, 180 
Soap spray, 137 
Soil (alkali), 277 
Soil (sour), 139 
Solidago, 280, 281 
Solomon's seal, 280 
Sorbus, 152 

Speedwell, 198, 199, 266 
Spice bush, 180 
Spindle tree, 179 
Spirea (spiraea), 179, 197 
Spraying, 229 
Spring beauty, 198, 280 
Squirrel corn, 280 
Starwort, 184 
Statuary, 94, 99, 100, 101 
Statue, 89, 90, 91 



St. Jolin's-wort, 180 
Stocks, 200 

Stoke's aster (stokesia), 199 
Stone-crop, 199, 266 
Stone, use of, in garden, 275, 

276 
Streptopus, 280 
Subaquatic, 245 
Sundial, 94, 98, 110, 113 
Sweet pepper-bush, 180 
Sweet rocket, 199 
Sweet sultan, 199 
Symphoricarpos, 180 
Symplocos, 180 
Syringa, 179 

Tagetes, 200 
Taxus, 75 
Tecoma, 209 
Thalictrum, 279 
Thorn, 152, 273 
Thrift, 266 
Thuya, 75, 159, 161 
Tiarella, 265, 299 
Tickseed, 198 
Toad lily, 197 
Toothwort, 280 
Transplanting, 129 
Trellis, 204 
Trillium, 197, 279 
TroUius, 197 
Trumpet creeper, 209 
Trycirtus, 197 
Tulip tree, 273 
Tunica, 266 
Turquoise berry, 180 
Twisted stalk, 280 



324 



COME INTO THE GARDEN 



Uvularia, 279 

Vatlisneria, 245 
Vegetable garden, 116 
Vegetable list, 302 
Veronica, 197, 198, 199, 

266 
Vetch, 307 
Viburnum, 180, 281 
Vines (annual), 210 
Violet, 280 
Virginia creeper, 206 
Vitis, 209 

Wafer ash, 152, 161 
Wake robin, 197, 279 
Wall, 72, 73, 111 
Wall fruits, 113, 116 
Wall garden, 260 
Wall pepper, 266 
Washington grass, 245 



Water garden material, 250, 

251, 252 
Water hyacinth, 242 
Watering, 126 
Water-lily, 240, 241, 246, 

247 
Water poppy, 242 
Weigelia, 179 
White flowers, 193 
Wild oats, 279 
Windflower, 197, 198 
Winterberry, 179 
Wistaria, 202, 207, 208 
Witch-hazel, 281 
Withe rod, 180 
Woodbine, 206, 274 
Woods (plants from), 277, 

278 
Worms, 136 

Yew, 75 



nHlliinillillllllil 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

000D'^ia77Q7 



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